
























DEC 21) 1982 
ria 


ay i 
Ye uGiuaL SENS 





Division ‘BS D825 | 


Section am A-4 lp 


aaa Wn 


Re il 

Benth 

inet 
" 


Oi oO Bp 
Ra! uit 
, al 





Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/visionsofhopefeaOOthor 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Hast thou 
considered all these things ? 
Chr. Yes, and they put me in hope and fear. 
BUNYAN. 


VISIONS OF 
HOPE AND FEAR 


Ags LUDDY) OF 
THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION 
AND ITS MESSAGE FOR TO-DAY 


BY 
GEORGE W. THORN 


AUTHOR OF 
rum PROPHETS OF ISRAEL AND THEIR MESSAGE FOR TO-DAY 


NEW YORK 


GEORGE H, DORAN COMPANY 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 
RC 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 








MY FATHER 
IN MEMORY OF 
MY MOTHER 
AND TWO BROTHERS 


‘* His servants shall do him service; and 
they shall see his face; and his name 
shall be on their foreheads.”’ 

REV. xxii. 3 and 4, 


CAL Ree Ue 
ATA eal A 
rir iy 


ov 


AW a 
a 
‘4 oe i Waa 


ae 





CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
PREFACE . : : : ° ° . 
1. THE Boox or a CurisTiAN PropHet ° ° 
2. THE Great ConFLICcT  . : ; ° . 
3. THE Lorp or Lire anp History (Rev. 1.) : 
4. THE MEssacEs TO THE SEVEN Cuurcues (Rev. il., iil.) 
§. [He SovEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER AND 
RepeMPTIVE Love (Rev. iv., v.) : : 
6. THe BreakING OF THE SEALs (Rev. vi.) . : 
7. TRIUMPHANT Hosts (Rev, vii.) : ; ; 
8. Tue SOUNDING OF THE TRuMPETS (Rev. vili., 1x.) 
g. RENEWED INsPIRATION AND AssuRANCE (Rev. x., Xi.) 
10. Tue Dracon, THE WoMAN AND THE CHILD (Rev. xil.) 
11. THE Two Bzasts (Rev. xiii.) . ‘ ; ; 
12. ANTICIPATIONS OF THE ENp (Rev. xiv.) . ; 
13. THE Ourpourinc or THE Bow1is (Rev. xv., xvi.) . 
14. THE JUDGMENT oF THE ScarLeT Woman (Rev. 


XV1L., XVili.) e e e ° ® e ° 


PAGE 


24 
33 


122 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


CHAPTER 


15. [HE JUDGMENT OF THE BEaAsTs AND THE DRacoNn 


AND THE Last JUDGMENT (Rev. xix., xx.) ° 

16. THe Great ConsuMMATION (Rey. xxi.-xxii. 5) . 

17. THe Eprtrocuet (Rev. xxii. 6-21) : . ‘ 

Appenpix. A Note ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE 

Boox . . . . . 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘ ° ° ° ° . 
INDEX . 


PAGB 


PREFACE 


A creat host of expositors have undertaken to 
interpret the Book of the Revelation and to point 
out its message for their own time. Many of them, 
however, have failed to realize the fundamental 
condition of their task. ‘The message of this book 
can only be discovered when the study of it is 
based upon the frankest recognition of the fact that 
it was written with the purpose of helping and 
encouraging certain Christian men and women 
living in the Roman Province of Asia towards the 
close of the first century of our era. The expositor 
must therefore seek to reconstruct the situation in 
which these people were placed, to show what was 
the nature of their difficulties and trials and to set 
forth the meaning the language and imagery of the 
book would suggest to their minds. Only when 
that has been done can he hope to point out the 
great spiritual truths the book proclaims and their 
bearing upon the conditions of life to-day. 

In following this method the present writer is 
profoundly indebted to the work of modern scholars 
who have done so much to enlarge our knowledge of 

ix 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


the conditions of religious and social life in Asia 
Minor during the period to which the book belongs, 
and also to those who by their researches in the realm 
of Jewish apocalyptical literature have shed so much 
light on the imagery the book contains and the ideas 
it reflects. He feels, however, that sometimes 
these studies have too great an influence upon the 
expositions which are offered of particular passages, 
not enough allowance being made for the fact that 
the writer is a mystic with genuine visionary experi- 
ences which he seeks to relate and to interpret. 
Perhaps a wholly satisfactory exposition of this book 
cannot be expected until much greater progress 
has been made in the psychological study, of the 
mystic phenomena of the religious consciousness, 
and the result of that progress is combined with the 
knowledge that is the fruit of literary and historical 
research. But without waiting for that, it may at 
least be recognized that some of the difficulties 
which are credited to unskilful handling of literary 
sources, either by the writer himself or by a later 
editor, may find more satisfactory explanation in the 
inconsequence and incongruity which we know to 
be characteristic of dreams and visions. Of this 
point of view the following exposition will furnish 
illustrations. 
x 


PREFACE 


This exposition is intended for those who desire 
to know something of what may be claimed, in the 
light of modern scholarship, as to the abiding spiritual 
worth of the most perplexing part of the New Testa- 
ment, but who have not the time or opportunity for 
close and detailed study. That many alternative 
interpretations of particular passages have been 
passed by, in the interests of condensation and 
lucidity, must not be taken as indicating that the 
writer considers them as unimportant or unworthy 
of notice. Those who desire completer discussion 
of the many problems a study of the Book of the 
Revelation raises must be referred to larger works, 
such as some of those included in the Bibliography 
at the end of this book. 


oP ab: Mt 
, ane 
Paes 





Visions of Hope and Fear 


CHAPTER 1 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


“No form of early Christian literature answers so well as 
the Apocalypse to the Baconian definition of the service 
rendered by genuine poetry in raising and erecting the mind 

~above the tyranny of mere appearances. Emphatically the 
Apocalypse aims at ‘submitting the shows of things to the 
desires of the mind.’ It reads history under the light of faith 
and hope ; it floods the evil present with transcendent anticipa- 
tions; it reasserts the supremacy of the ideal and of the 
Spirit, against depressing memories and forebodings. Itis a 
pictorial expansion of the Christian principle: we walk by 
faith, not by sight.’”-—Dr J. MorratTrt. 


Tue Jews took the opening word, or words, of the 
first five books of the Bible as their titles and Chris- 
tians have done the same thing in the case of the 
last book. ‘The first word of the book in Greek is 
Apocalypse ; changed into Latin dress it becomes 
Revelation ; the simple English for it is Uncovering. 
In its original Greek form the word has now been 
appropriated as a technical description of a number 
of works which emanated from Jewish and Christian 
sources during the two centuries preceding Christ 
and the two which followed. ‘These books had a 
far-reaching influence and they are of considerable 
I A 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


importance for the study of the New Testament— 
especially for our present subject. We must not, 
however, suppose that such a classification of this 
literature existed in New Testament times. John? 
did not sit down with the intenticn of composing a 
certain kind of book known to his contemporaries as 
an ‘‘ apocalypse.” He repeatedly refers to what he 
is writing as prophecy, and to himself as a member of 
the order of Christian Prophets. If the book had 
come down to us without any traditional title we 
might call it, after Old Testament analogy : 


The Book of the Prophet obn. 


Or, abbreviating the introductory paragraph, and 
setting it out like the title of a modern book, we 
might print it thus: 


THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 


A PROPHECY 


by 
JOHN. 


To understand the significance of such a title and 
the standpoint from which this book is written, it is 
necessary that we should realize the important place 
and wide influence of the Prophet in the early 
Christian Church. Preaching on the Day of Pente-— 
cost, Peter explained the great experience which 
had come to the disciples as a fulfilment of Joel’s 


1 There is no need to ask who John was at this point. That 
question can best be discussed after reading the book, and is there- 
fore left to the end. 


2 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


words: “J will pour forth of my Spirit upon all 
flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy. ... Yea, and on my servants and on 
my handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of 
my Spirit and they shall prophesy.”* Jewish 
Christians were not slow to recognize the worth of 
that gift. It is true that, at first, their attention was 
largely taken by the strange “‘ gift of tongues,” but 
they soon realized the superior value of prophecy, 
not only as a renewal of the privilege and endow- 
ment which had meant so much to Israel in the 
golden age of her faith, but also as a splendid equip- 
ment for the new task of building up Christ’s 
Church in the world. Some of the Gentile 
churches, however, were slower to recognize the 
relative importance of these two gifts and were 
inclined to exalt speaking with tongues above the 
power of prophesying. St Paul vigorously opposed 
such a false estimate of spiritual values and gave 
convincing reasons for regarding prophecy as the 
supreme endowment. One who possessed the gift 
of tongues might utter sacred and profound my- 
steries, but, unless he or someone else interpreted 
the strange speech, no benefit could be conferred on 
others. But a prophet built up the whole Church 
with his inspired words of consolation and hope and 
his testimony, born of the great experience of the 
fullness of the Spirit, had power to convince and 
convert any unbeliever who might be present. So, 
said the Apostle, of all spiritual gifts that most to 
be coveted was the power of prophesying.? 

This power might be bestowed upon any believer, 

4 Acts ii. 17 and 18. 2 1 Cor, xiv. 


3 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


and all who received it could speak, in turn, at the 
meetings of the Church. Nevertheless, those who 
received the gift in marked degree and as a more or 
less permanent endowment were relatively few, and 
they soon came to be regarded as a distinct order in 
the Church, exercising a ministry second in import- 
ance only to that of the Apostles. They became 
the recognized Christian teachers and preachers, 
and as such they wielded much greater influence 
than local church-officers like presbyters and deacons. 
But this position of pre-eminence was not long 
maintained. The Church developed a more ela- 
borate and a more rigid organization for its govern- 
ment and ministry which allowed less scope for the 
independent activity and personal authority of the 
prophet. Extravagances and excesses on the part 
of some who claimed the gift of prophecy tended to 
discredit the order, and gradually the prophet was 
excluded from any recognized place in the official 
ministry of the Church. Yet the spirit of prophecy 
never wholly died out and in all genuine movements 
of revival it can be discovered working again with 
something of its former commanding authority and 
creative power. 

Of this movement of Christian prophecy, while 
in the full tide of its power, the Book of the Revela- 
tion is the unique literary outcome. John, as one 
of the prophetic order,’ had exercised his ministry 
in the churches of Asia, delivering orally “ the word 
of God and the testimony of Jesus.”? ‘The in- 
fluence of his preaching and the prominence of his 
position in the Church had marked him out as an 

4 Rev. xxii. 9. 2 Rev. i. 9. 


4 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


early victim when a season of persecution com- 
menced. He was banished to the Isle of Patmos, 
and there, in all probability, compelled to labour in 
the stone quarries as one of a gang of convicts. But 
the “ tribulation ” he endured could not quench the 
prophetic fire which burned in his soul. In the 
loneliness and weariness of his exile he gave himself 
to prolonged and fruitful meditation upon the 
truths he had learned. He thought much of the 
circumstances and needs of the people to whom he 
had been used to minister. He pondered deeply 
the world-happenings of his day, as report and 
rumour presented them to him. And, from time 
to time, the Spirit of God wrought so mightily 
within him that the conditions of earthly existence 
seemed to be suspended and in his ecstasy he became 
aware of heavenly and eternal realities.’ 

Mystic experiences of this kind were not unknown 
to others, but not always could they tell what they 
had heard and seen in this state of ecstasy. St 
' Paul, for instance, had received “‘ visions and revela- 
tions (apocalypses) of the Lord,” ? but he felt that 
he could never express what had been revealed to 
him. No doubt such experiences profoundly influ- 
enced his life and thought, and probably they 
coloured his many references to things unseen and 
eternal. “Glory is a word that on his lips must 
have always tasted of the Third Heaven and Para- 
dise.” * But of any direct description of what he 
had seen and heard there is not a word; he held his 
experience to be incommunicable. With John, 


BURY. 1.) 10's iv. 23° XVil. 3 xe LO; 2 2 Cor. xii. 1ff, 
8 Roberts, The Supreme Experience of Christianity, p. 70. 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


however, the case was different. The revelation 
given to him was unmistakably a divine message, 
and he was directed to write what he had seen in a 
book, and to send it, as a letter, to be read in the 
churches of Asia, where his sacred calling was known 
and his prophetic authority recognized. 

But how could any immediate consciousness of 
spiritual realities be expressed in human language, 
moulded, as it necessarily is, by the experiences of 
the physical senses? “That was not a new problem 
set for the Christian seer. An ineffable element has 
been recognized in all profound spiritual experience, 
and in the travail of utterance which has resulted, the 
language of symbolism has been born. Some know- 
ledge of the laws and limits of this form of speech is 
essential to any clear grasp of the significance of 
what John wrote for the churches of Asia. 

For our purpose, a symbol may be defined as a 
representation, in a form that appeals to the senses, 
of a truth, or an experience, the nature of which is 
such that it does not admit of any direct literal 
description. It is not a complete expression of the 
truth or experience, such as can meet the challenge 
of a critical intellect, but it suffices to suggest the 
reality to a responsive spiritual imagination. The 
reality is always greater than the symbol which 
represents it; yet the two things can no more be 
separated than soul and body. “A symbol is the 
living flesh and blood, the organic body, in which 
an idea must be clothed in order to manifest and 
realize itself.” * But while a symbol is at first the 


1 E. Caird, Evolution of Religion, Vol. I., p. 292. Caird refers to 
poetic symbols, but his words may be taken generally. 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


necessary embodiment of the truth it expresses, 
there is always the danger that, as time goes on, the 
essential truth may be lost sight of and the symbol 
alone cherished and reverenced. ‘Then a spirit of 
logical but unimaginative and unspiritual literalism 
comes in and does its destructive work. What was 
once a noble and living faith in transcendent realities 
is transformed into an unintelligent superstition or a 
mechanical idol-worship, which becomes the butt 
of scoffing unbelief. One need go no further than 
some of the interpretations given to the book with 
which we are here concerned to find sad examples of 
the follies and futilities men can commit when they 
succumb to this peril. 

Symbolism enters very largely into the composi- 
tion of the Bible and is especially characteristic of 
the Hebrew prophets. This is seen, not only in 
their free use of poetic imagery, but also in actions 
they performed as visible signs of the truth they 
proclaimed, and in the accounts of visions they 
received, every detail of which is charged with 
spiritual significance. In later days the symbolism 
became more elaborate and involved until it reached 
its fullest development in the books already referred 
to, which we now class together as “ apocalypses.” 
The Jews probably knew them by the name of 
apocrypha,’ 1.e. hidden books, either because they 
regarded them as having been concealed when they 
were written until the time came to which their 


1 This original meaning of the word must not be confused with its 
present use as the designation of a collection of books found in the 
Greek version of the Old Testament but not in the Hebrew, and 
therefore not acknowledged by Protestants as an integral part of 
Scripture. 

7 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


revelations referred, or because they were not 
openly published to the world, but kept for the 
secret use of the specially initiated. ‘These books, 
of which Daniel is the great Old Testament proto- 
type, are almost entirely made up of symbolical 
visions in which much of the old prophetic imagery 
is reshaped and adapted to new purposes. Fresh 
conceptions also are introduced which owe a good 
deal to the influence of other religions, especially 
those of Babylonia and Persia. 

To all this wealth of symbolism John was heir. 
His mind was steeped in the sacred scriptures of the 
Old Testament and in those other writings to which 
reference has just been made. In addition to this 
he was familiar with many conceptions, current in 
the various religious communities of Asia, which 
had helped to mould the ideas of Asiatic Christians. 
All his thought of unseen spiritual realities was 
bound to be affected by these complex influences. 
And when, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
divine truth was revealed to him through the 
medium of visions, it was inevitable that imagery 
which had woven itself into the very texture of 
his mind should reappear in new combinations 
having fresh significance. 

After the ecstatic vision came the effort to write 
the essential truth of what he had seen and heard. 
The same Spirit who had lifted him above the realm 
of time and sense was with him to inspire him for 
this task, but divine inspiration works with and 
through personal qualities and endowments. John 
had to recall what had been shown him in his 


1 Cf. Dan. viii. 26; xii. 4, 9. 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


moments of ecstasy and to relate it to all the truth 
he had learned under more normal conditions of 
spiritual illumination so as to compose a single and 
continuous prophetic work which should convey the 
message with which he had been entrusted. In 
such an endeavour it was natural that he should 
make large use of the language of books which had 
profoundly influenced his thinking and which were 
familiar to many of those for whom he wrote. And 
if sometimes he quotes so extensively from them 
that the old material hardly harmonizes with the 
new, that need be no stumbling-block to us. The 
readers he had in mind would readily understand 
allusions and perceive connexions of ideas which we 
find it very difficult to trace to-day. And some 
lack of logical consistency and orderly development 
of the theme is only what we might expect from a 
true prophet with real visions of heavenly things to 
narrate. Complete harmony of detail and close 
adherence to the forms of literary art, in a work of 
this character, would suggest the conscientious but 
uninspired labour of the mere student and teacher.* 

While, however, we refuse to regard an inspired 
Christian prophet as dependent for even the form of 
his message upon certain books with which he was 
familiar, we at once recognize that those books may 
greatly help us in understanding and interpreting 
what he says, and therefore we shall need to have 


1 “Itis not a question of the fitting together of documents, of 
scissors and paste, but of the alternate emergence of independent 
convictions into consciousness and expression. 1n moments of crisis 
and emotion these convictions sometimes attain an artistic unity, 
held together by a feeling of passionate and unshaken loyalty to God 
and His Christ, but they do not attain, and cannot attain, to logical 
consistency.”’—Burkitt, Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 49. 


2 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


¢ b 


frequent recourse to other “ apocalyptic ” writings 
for the illumination of our present subject. But 
when we do so we must remember some important 
points of difference which mark out the Book of the 
Revelation from all the rest of this literature and 
give it its supreme value. 

In the first place the authors of other apocalypses 
did not write in their own name as men directly 
charged with a divine message to their own genera- 
tion. ‘They issued their works under the names of 
great saints and heroes of the past, such as Enoch, 
Moses, Isaiah, Baruch and Ezra. ‘They were probably 
induced to adopt this literary artifice by the diffi- 
culty of getting any book of a prophetic character 
accepted unless it was believed to have been written 
not later than the time of Ezra. At that period the 
Law came to be regarded as the absolute and final 
divine revelation and no place was left, therefore, 
for fresh, independent spokesmen for God.  Be- 
sides this, the sacred collection of prophetic writings 
was complete by about 200 B.c. and no book of 
later date could claim recognition as inspired pro- 
phecy. For these reasons, Jewish writers who 
believed themselves to have some new truth to 
_impart, or who considered that they were called to 
re-interpret and re-express some old truth, from 
about the year 200 B.c. to the fall of Jerusalem, 
were accustomed to seek wider influence for their 
work by associating it with the names of great 
religious leaders of the past. But the Book of the 
Revelation adopts no device of this kind. It does 
not deal with any history or revelation of past days. 
The prophet writes in view of an immediate crisis, 

IO 


THE BOOK OF A CHRISTIAN PROPHET 


in the midst of which both he and his readers are 
living, and he claims to have a fresh message directly 
concerned with the needs and circumstances of the 
time. ‘This characteristic note of genuine prophecy 
distinguishes this book from all the other apocalypses. 

But there is another and profounder difference 
between this book and its Jewish precursors, and 
that is the difference which Christ has made. The 
Jewish apocalypses provide a programme of a 
coming Day of the Lord when all evil will be over- 
thrown and righteousness gloriously vindicated. 
But the Book of the Revelation is the exultant 
disclosure of a Messiah already triumphant and yet 
bearing the marks of patient suffering by which He 
has conquered and is still conquering. He is the 
crucified, risen, ascended, glorified Christ, and in 
His hands is the sceptre of the universe. That fact 
is the clue to the maze of history, and the sufferings 
which Christians are called upon to endure they 
may bear with hope and confidence as incidents in 
the victorious warfare their Lord is waging against 
all forms of evil. 

So although John, to a large extent, used the well- 
worn apocalyptic moulds, the metal which he poured 
into them was the pure gold of revealed truth, 
melted in the crucible of an inspired imagination. 
He was no literary hack, piecing together with 
clumsy laboriousness fragments from various books 
and passing off the result as an original composition. 
Nor was he a mystic dreamer, from whose subcon- 
sciousness things he had heard and read kept floating 
up, until, feeling they had some mysterious signifi- 
cance, he was moved to write them down, but with- 

II 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


out the power to fuse his material into any vital 
unity. He was a true prophet, gifted, like his 
Hebrew predecessors, with spiritual insight and the 
foresight born of that, but endowed far beyond 
them by virtue of the experience he had of the living 
Christ. And, like the writings of those masters of 
Israel’s faith, his book stands in immediate relation- 
ship to the circumstances and needs of his own time ; 
it is designed to warn, to encourage, and to save the 
living men and women to whom it is sent. This 
intimate connexion with the life of the age in which 
it was written distinguishes the Book of the Revela- 
tion from later Christian apocalypses, as well as from 
earlier ones of Jewish origin, and gives it what they 
cannot, in any real sense, claim, a “‘ message for 
to-day.” It is always a prophet who speaks most 
closely to the heart of his own generation whose 
message has most significance for other generations 
also. ‘The truths that are most timely are the 
eternal truths. 


12 


CHAPTER 2 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


* If to feel, in the ink of the slough, 
And the sink of the mire, 
Veins of glory and fire 
Run through and transpierce and transpire, 
And a secret purpose of glory in every part, 
And the answering glory of battle fill my heart ; 
To thrill with the joy of girded men, 
To go on for ever and fail and go on again, 
And be mauled to the earth and arise, 
And contend for the shade of a word and a thing not seen 
with the eyes: 
With the half of a broken hope for a pillow at night 
That somehow the right is the right 
And the smooth shall bloom from the rough : 
Lord, if that were enough ? ”’ 
R. L. STEVENSON. 


Tuoucu the Book of the Revelation presents some 
striking differences from the Jewish apocalypses, 
as has been pointed out in the Meriok chapter, 
it is entirely in accord with them as to the kind of 
situation to which it is addressed. ‘These books 
were all called into existence in days of darkness and 
adversity. They have aptly been described as 
* Tracts for Bad Times.” ‘Their writers were men 
who felt keenly the overthrow of national hopes 
and ideals under the oppression of heathen con- 


querors, but they believed that God would shortly 
13 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


intervene, in an altogether supernatural fashion, to 
fulfil His promises. ‘‘ Under the influence of their 
national disasters, they came to regard the whole 
course of history as a succession of great dramatic 
catastrophes, and looked forward with hope to the 
coming of one great, final, cataclysm, after which the 
tyranny of the great nations would be trodden under 
foot, and the Children of Israel would take their 
place as the chosen people of God, under His direct 
governance, with His anointed King as His repre- 
sentative on earth.”? It was this hope for the 
future, despite its sombre view of the immediate 
present, that gave the apocalyptic literature of 
Judaism its hold upon the people. 

The same sense of oppression by a heathen world- 
power, and of a tremendous conflict impending, in 
which spiritual forces must gloriously triumph, 
dominates the Book of the Revelation. ‘True, 
it is no longer the Jewish people who are the op- 
pressed ; itis the Christian Church. But the Chris- 
tian Church is regarded as the heir of all the spiritual 
privilege and prerogative of Israel, and the divinely 
given hopes and ideals on which the soul of Judaism 
had been fed are appropriated, quite naturally, 
to Christian use. In the eyes of the world the 
Church appears puny and contemptible. She is 
pursued by the bitter jealousy of the Jews; she is 
scorned and hated by the pagan society which 
surrounds her; she is grievously wounded and 
weakened by apostasies, divisions, and disloyalties 
within her own borders. And now she is about to 
suffer rigorous persecution at the hands of the 

1 Lake, The Stewardship of Faith, p. 9. 
et 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


State. Yet the prophet views the situation without 
dismay. He sees the Church in the light of her 
divine calling and destiny. She does not lie helpless 
and forsaken in the relentless grip of her mighty 
enemy. She stands, radiant in the consciousness of 
God’s presence, to face unflinchingly the magnifi- 
cence and power of imperial Rome, and the prophet 
dares to speak with absolute confidence of the issue 
of the tremendous conflict which is about to 
begin. 

To gain the true point of view for the interpreta- 
tion of the Book of the Revelation and the apprecia- 
tion of its message for to-day, it is necessary that we 
should understand something of the origin of the 
antagonism between the Church and the Roman 
Empire and that we should recognize the nature of 
the issue which fanned the smouldering fires of 
opposition to a blaze. 

Roman religion was essentially national; it was 
concerned not so much with the honour of the 
gods as with the welfare of the State. Its observance 
was therefore inseparable from the duties of citizen- 
ship and patriotism. But so long as the prescribed 
ceremonies and sacrifices were attended to, the 
State did not concern itself with the private beliefs 
of individuals. ‘They might disbelieve in the exist- 
ence of the gods or they might adopt any of the 
numerous foreign religions which poured into the 
Empire, mostly from the East. ‘This attitude to 
her own citizens made it easy for Rome to allow a 
very wide latitude of belief in the provinces she had 
won by conquest. Only in extreme cases, such as 
those in which human sacrifice was supposed to be 


15 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


involved (Druidism, for instance), were native reli- 
gions interfered with. Nevertheless, political con- 
siderations made it desirable that some kind of 
religious unity should obtain throughout the Empire, 
and a method was found which seemed to secure this 
without disturbing the multitude of polytheistic 
faiths. 

Even while Rome’ was still a republic the spirit 
of the State had been personified and worshipped as 
the goddess Roma. A temple was erected to her 
in Smyrna as early as 195 B.c. ‘This worship of the 
genius of the city continued under the imperial 
regime and was presently extended to include the 
Emperor as the incarnation of the power and 
authority of the State. Belief in the divinity of 
kings is found in many forms of primitive religion, 
especially in the East. The Greeks learned it from 
their contact with orientals and from them it 
spread to Rome. Julius Cesar was the first to take 
advantage of it by definitely claiming divine honours. 
Statues of him were placed in all temples throughout 
the Empire; public prayers were ordered to be 
offered him every year; oaths were to be sworn by 
his name; and his festival, as Jupiter Julius, was to 
be observed every four years. Augustus, admon- 
ished perhaps by the murder of his predecessor, was 
more cautious. At Rome he did not permit worship 
to be offered to him, during his lifetime, though the 
Senate made him a god, by its decree, at his 
death. In the provinces, however, Augustus allowed 
temples to be erected in his honour, but required 
that he should be worshipped only in conjunction 
with the goddess Roma. ‘The first city in Asia to 

16 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


avail itself of this privilege was Pergamum,* which 
received the necessary authority to build in the year 
29 B.c., though the temple was not dedicated until 
ten years later. 

It was soon realized that such an institution as 
Emperor-worship provided a most valuable means of 
strengthening the unity of the Empire and securing 
the loyalty of the provinces. But, though the idea 
was applied to the whole Empire, nowhere was it 
developed so fully and carried out with such elaborate 
care as in the provinces of Asia Minor. In accord- 
ance with the general system of government which 
obtained throughout the Empire, these provinces 
each held an annual assembly of deputies from the 
different towns and to this assembly the arrange- 
ment of all matters connected with the worship of 
the Emperor was relegated. ‘The president of this 
council took his title from the name of the province 
in which he held office. In Asia he was called the 
Asiarch; in Cilicia, the Ciliciarch; in Bithynia, 
the Bithyniarch, and so on. Gradually his civil 
functions lost their significance, but his religious 
duties became more important and far-reaching. 
Not only was he the head of the priesthood devoted 
to the worship of the Emperor in the province, but 
he had also powers of superintendence over religion 
in general. As the chief burden of the expense of 
the festivals and games with which the worship of 
the Emperor was celebrated fell upon him, he had to 
be a man of considerable wealth. Nevertheless, the 
office was greatly sought after on account of the 
pomp and prestige associated with it, and the title 

1 Cf. the reference to ‘‘Satan’s throne” in Rev. ii. 13. 
17 B 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


was proudly worn even after the term of office had 
expired.’ : 

The imperial religion flourished in the provinces 
far more than at the heart of the Empire. Culti- 
vated Romans, who had little belief in any divine 
powers, would not be likely to accept enthusiasti- 
cally the divinity of a Caligula or a Nero. The 
best of the Emperors they might recognize as 
entitled to a place “ amongst the immortals,” but 
the worship of such would be nothing more than a 
piece of high State ceremony, which provided 
spectacular expression for the sentiments of loyalty 
and patriotism. Some of the Emperors themselves 
were unwilling to accept the honours thrust upon 
them. Tiberius refused the petition of ambas- 
sadors from Spain, who desired to erect a temple 
to him and his mother. And Vespasian, during his 
last illness, made melancholy sport of the posthumous 
divinity which would be accorded tohim. “ Alas!” 
he ‘said, “‘I see I’ shall’ be’a god directly aaie 
Senate discriminated between Emperors at their 
death, according divine honours to some who had 
not claimed them during their lifetime, and refusing 
them to others who had. 

But in the provinces, and particularly in those of 
_ Asia Minor, there was never any unwillingness to 
receive the new religion. ‘The imperial power was 
honoured as having provided a security of govern- 
ment and an uprightness of administration that had 
long been wanting. Some of the Emperors had 
shown special favour to the provinces, affording 
them help when they greatly needed it. Even 

1 Gf. Acts xix. 31: ‘' Chief meant of Asia’’=Greek, Asiarchs. 

I 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


Emperors who had established a reputation for 
tyranny and cruelty, in their relations with Romans, 
generally ruled the provinces with fairness. It was 
natural, therefore, that provincials should regard the 
reigning Emperor with reverence and devotion, and 
from this attitude it was an easy transition to that of 
worship. ‘They had no monotheistic prepossessions, 
and political institutions which conferred great and 
obvious benefits might well seem to be of heavenly 
origin. Provincials, therefore, had little desire to 
resist the claims to divine power which the Emperors 
increasingly made. Cities vied with one another for 
the honour of erecting temples and organizing 
priesthoods, and additional power was gained for 
the new religion by a tendency, which soon became 
manifest, to identify the divine Emperor with the 
particular god who had long been locally wor- 
shipped. 

A religion like this, imposed upon all as an expres- 
sion of loyalty to the reigning power, could not but 
come into conflict with any strictly monotheistic 
faith. ‘This had happened in the case of Judaism 
when Caligula had outdone all his predecessors 
in the extravagance of his claims to divinity and even 
ordered the erection of his statue in the Temple at 
Jerusalem, an impiety frustrated by his death. 
Other Emperors, however, had left the Jews alone 
and allowed their religion as lawful. Collision with 
the Christians on this matter was for a long time 
avoided. They had been subject to spasmodic 
outbursts of persecution, the chief of which was 
occasioned by Nero’s charge against them of having 
set fire to Rome—a crime for which widespread 


19 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


rumour hinted he was himself responsible. But 
then the refusal of worship to the Emperor formed 
no part of the indictment. Inquiry into the 
beliefs and practices of the Christians was supposed 
to have convicted them of “‘ hatred to the human 
race,’ and as guilty of such a crime they were 
punished. 

Persecution on this ground continued during the 
next thirty years or so, but only in a local and 
occasional manner. No general measures were 
adopted against the Christians. Their persecution, 
like that of outlaws and robbers, formed part of the 
ordinary police administration of the Empire and 
active measures against them would only be taken 
at the instigation of some informer or on the rise 
of a wave of popular feeling through some local 
antagonism. On such occasions, however, it was 
probably often a matter of some difficulty to deter- 
mine who were members of a sect composed mostly 
of poor and obscure people and meeting in secret. 
But in the reign of Domitian a new test was estab- 
lished by which Christians could easily be identified 
and their conviction secured. 

Domitian, an able man, but cruel and crafty, with 
a passionate love of pompous display, took the 
question of his divinity more seriously than any of 
his predecessors except Caligula. He styled himself 
“Our Lord and God” in official documents and 
demanded to be addressed by this exalted title. 
Under his rule greater strictness was adopted in the 
enforcement of the imperial religion. Observance 
of its rites was made a test of loyalty, and if Christians 
would not submit to this, it was deemed sufficient to 

20 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


prove the charge of treason and thus render them 
liable to death. 

This test struck at the heart of the faith of the 
Christian. No argument drawn from patriotic con- 
siderations could alter the matter for him. He had 
only one Lord and God and it was impossible for 
him to confess any other., To attribute divine prero- 
gatives to a man, however exalted his station, was 
blasphemy. There was only One in whom the 
Deity had ever become incarnate—the Man Christ 
Jesus. So, when he was required to throw a pinch 
of incense into the censer burning before the image 
of the Emperor and cry “Cesar is Lord,” he 
could do no other than assert ‘* Christ is Lord,” and 
thus convict himself of lése-majesté—treason to the 
Emperor and the State he represented. 

This was the situation the Church was called upon 
to face in Asia from about 93 to 96 a.p. and it was 
the crisis thus created which brought forth the Book 
of the Revelation. John saw clearly that the 
conflict between loyalty to the Emperor and loyalty 
to Christ was no mere passing incident. Christianity 
issued an uncompromising challenge to all authority 
and power which was incompatible with the claims 
of Christ. Under the influence of the divine 
Spirit, John’s prophetic vision took in the range of 
the great conflict that was being opened up. It 
was not the absurdly unequal struggle between the 
poor and despised sect of Christians and the might 
and magnificence of imperial Rome that it would 
have appeared to be to the uninspired mind of the 
time, had such a mind conceived the possibility of 
the rivalry at all. The part of those humble Chris- 

21 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


tians was but to suffer bravely and endure patiently. 
Yet, though they were passive, the mighty conflict 
would go forward and behind all earthly happenings 
and material phenomena spiritual forces captained 
by Christ Himself would wage the tremendous — 
warfare and secure at last the glorious triumph. 
History has more than justified the prophetic view 
of the situation, though the campaign proved to be 
longer than John and his fellow-sufferers apparently 
imagined. Nearly three centuries later the Emperor 
Julian fell mortally wounded, after having spent his 
life in the vain endeavour to reorganize the Roman 
world on a pagan basis. The legend is that, as he 
fell, he exclaimed: “Thou hast conqueredia@ 
Galilean.” 

But the abiding worth of the Book of the Revela- 
tion is that it penetrates beneath the struggle of a 
particular age and reveals eternal issues which are 
constantly being fought out. ‘The claim of the 
State to supreme authority, even in the sphere of 
individual conscience; the demand that homage 
should be rendered to power and success ;_ the wor- 
ship of imperial ideals and ambitions ; the plea that 
material power and military force are the final 
arbiters of the world’s destiny—these things did 
not pass away for ever when Rome perished. Many 
and varied have been the forms in which such 
emanations of the spirit of Antichrist have clothed 
themselves during the centuries. And still the evil 
challenges us in new and subtle ways. But beyond 
all close analogies to the situation in Asia at the end 
of the first century which can be discovered in the 
history of succeeding ages, or even at the present 

22 


THE GREAT CONFLICT 


time, the Book of the Revelation brings home to us, 
in vivid pictorial form, the essential facts of the great 
conflict between good and evil in which all are called 
to engage, and in which Christ and Satan are the 
protagonists. We learn from this mysterious book 
that “‘ our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, 
but against the principalities, against the powers, 
against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the 
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” 
But at the same time we see that “‘ they that be 
with us are more than they that be with them.” 
Whether it be in the sphere of individual life, or 
of the history of the human race, all power and 
authority has been committed to the living Christ. 
The sceptre of government is in pierced hands; 
the Lamb that was slain is the central and supreme 
figure on the stage of the world’s history. 


23 


CHAPTER 3 


THE LORD OF LIFE AND HISTORY 


** His Kingdom cannot fail, 
He rules o’er earth and heaven ; 
The keys of death and hell 
Are to our Jesus given: 
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice ; 
Rejoice ; again I say, Rejoice.”’ 
C. WESLEY. 


Writinc to the Corinthian church, during a period 
of great tribulation and distress, the Apostle Paul 
revealed the secret of his support: “ For our light 
affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us 
more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of 
glory ; while we look not at the things which are 
seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the 
things which are seen are temporal; but the things 
which are not seen are eternal.” ? 

These words might be taken as a motto for the 
Book of the Revelation. John was enduring tribula- 
tion as a convict forced to labour in the quarries of 
Patmos. His brethren of the Christian churches 
in the province of Asia were menaced by the terrors 
of the persecution to which he had already fallen a 
victim. But he found his strength in looking away 
from the distressful circumstances of the moment to 


2 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. 


24 


THE LORD OF LIFE AND HISTORY 


the unseen and eternal realities. And for him those 
realities were dominated by the radiant figure of the 
all-commanding Christ. On the first day of the 
week, when the Christians were accustomed to 
celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which they had 
come to call “the Lord’s day,” John would give 
himself to special meditation upon that inspiring 
theme. He could not now gather with his fellow- 
disciples to join in the fellowship of prayer and 
praise, and to pass round the bread and wine which 
were the symbols of the Master’s presence, but he 
realized that the Lord was with him in his loneliness. 
On such an occasion, as he was absorbed in the act of 
contemplation, the prophetic ecstasy came upon 
him and he saw in spiritual vision the glorified form 
of Him whom he worshipped. 

From the outset he was aware that the vision was 
no mere mystical satisfaction of his own soul’s 
longing. It was granted to him in his capacity as a 
prophet and was therefore intended for the warning 
and consolation of those to whom he had been 
accustomed to minister. ‘The first sense to awake 
to the spiritual realities was not sight but hearing. 
A voice, loud and clear as a trumpet, commanded 
him to write what he saw in a book and to send it to 
the seven churches of Asia. And when he turned 
to see who was speaking, it was in immediate rela- 
tionship to the churches that he perceived the 
presence of their Lord. 

Seven golden lampstands were set, not one stand 
with seven branches, such as was placed in the Taber- 
nacle,? and as Zechariah had seen in his vision,* but 


1 Exod. xxv. 31 ff. a Zech. iv. 2. 


25 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


seven separate stands, each with its own lamp, and a 
form moved among them as it might be of the priest 
whose duty it was to trim the wicks and renew the 
oil that the lights might never go out. But this was 
no earthly priest. Though human in form He was 
invested with such sacred dignity and royal power 
as immeasurably distinguished Him from all who 
served in temples made with hands. In John’s 
visionary perception of Him there blended some 
features with which the Books of Daniel and Ezekiel 
had made him familiar, and others suggested by 
oriental ideas of kingship and Jewish conceptions of 
high-priesthood, but the whole figure was a new 
and awe-inspiring manifestation of the transcendent 
glory of the living Christ. 

The long-flowing robe was the ceremonial dress of 
one in exalted position as priest or king, and the 
fact that it was high-girded, and with a golden belt, 
carried still further the suggestions of priesthood and 
royalty. The head and the hair “‘ white as white 
wool, white as snow ” implied the divine attributes 
of “one that was ancient of days.” * The eyes 
glowing like a flame of fire * represented the burning 
insight of omniscience and the consuming wrath of 
holiness when regarding sin. ‘The feet, gleaming 
like the feet of the cherubim of Ezekiel’s vision,* as 
if composed of flashing metal still aglow with the 
heat of the furnace, heightened the impression of 
power to overcome all evil and trample down all 
opposition. ‘The sharp two-edged sword (the short 
tongue-shaped sword of the Romans) proceeding 

1 Dan. vii. 9. 4 Cf. Dan. x. 6. 
3 Ezek. i. 7; cf. Dan. x. 6. 
26 


THE LORD OF LIFE AND HISTORY 


from the mouth indicated the piercing and destroying 
power of divine reproof; and the countenance 
shining as the sun in its strength revealed the dazzling 
splendour of the glory before which men and angels 
veil their faces. And while this majestic figure 
moved amongst the seven lampstands, He held in 
His right hand, either as a circlet of brilliant jewels 
or upon the open palm, seven stars. 

Before that awful splendour John fell into a death- 
like swoon. But that hand in which he had seen the 
stars was now laid upon his head with reassuring 
gesture, and the voice which had been sounding in 
his ears like the breaking of the waves upon the sea- 
shore * spoke comfortable words: ‘‘ Fear not; [ am 
the first and the last, and the living one; and I 
became dead and behold, I am alive for evermore, 
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” 

It is impossible to miss the significance of the claim 
made in these words. “ The first and the last ” is 
a phrase which Jews used of Jehovah alone, and the 
imperial power of the keys, too, belonged to Him 
exclusively. ‘Three keys, said the Rabbis, could not 
be given to any representative of God—the key of 
birth, the key of rain and the key of the resurrection 
of the dead. But the speaker of these words is the 
living Christ. He refers to the fact of His having 
passed through the experience of death, but now, 
enriched by all the sympathy and understanding 
which that experience has given Him, He lives. 
No more can He be subject to death ; He is eternally 
its Lord, able to rescue from its grasp all those who 
look to Him. So all divine prerogatives are claimed 

1 Cf. Ezek. xliii. 2. 


27 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


by the glorified Christ; He bears the authentic 
marks of Godhead. 

And again, from the lips of his divine Lord, John 
receives the commission to write. He is to tell of 
his vision, and of all that is shown him of what is and 
what is to be. Especially is he to expound the 
symbols of the seven stars and the seven lamp- 
stands. The lampstands are seven churches, and 
the stars are the angels of those churches—their 
heavenly representatives and counterparts, or, to 
translate the idea into its nearest equivalent in 
modern thought, the personifications of their 
essential spirit. 

The choice of seven as the number of churches to 
be represented is in accordance with the recognized 
symbolical use of numbers which plays such a large 
part in all the literature to which this book is akin. 
Why these particular seven are chosen is not evident. 
There were other churches in the province of Asia 
at the time, and there is good reason for believing 
that some of them were more important and more 
representative than some of those mentioned here. 
Sir Wm. Ramsay has suggested that these seven 
were the heads of seven groups into which the 
churches of the province had gradually formed 
themselves,’ but his exposition of this theory is not 
altogether convincing. While we remember the 
fantastic excesses to which “ allegorical arithmetic ” 
has often led, we cannot doubt that the choice of 
the number seven in this instance was determined by 
symbolism just as much as the seven seals, the seven 
trumpets and the seven bowls. Seven is the 

1 Letters to the a pp. 178ff. 
2 


THE LORD OF LIFE AND HISTORY 


number which suggests both the ideas of sacredness 
and completeness. And the seven churches taken 
together stand for the whole Church which John 
had in mind and which we may regard, in its turn, 
as representative of the Church Universal. May we 
not therefore assume that these seven were selected 
because, from John’s intimate knowledge of their 
circumstances and condition, they afforded the 
clearest occasion for the messages of warning, rebuke 
or encouragement, which were needed in varying 
degrees by the whole Church? The order in 
which they are named may have been suggested by 
the route by which a messenger starting at Ephesus 
would visit them. 

Amongst these seven, then, represented by the 
lamps, moved the resplendent figure of the living 
Christ. Small and feeble communities though they 
were, surrounded by worldliness and paganism, and 
to a large degree isolated from each other, the risen 
Lord was in their midst and His intimate relation- 
ship to each bound them together as one perfect 
whole. More than that; they were in His hand. 
He held the stars while He moved amongst the 
lamps. As Paul said of individual believers, so it 
might also be said of the churches, their life was hid 
with Christ in God. What need they fear, either 
from persecutions without or from weakness within, 
if they realized that truth? The vision given to 
John was for their comfort and inspiration. It was 
to reveal the true spiritual background against 
which they must view all the happenings of time. 
It was to show them the eternal behind the transient, 
so that they might endure as seeing the invisible. 


29 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


The message for to-day and every day, is that 
Jesus Christ is the Lord of human life and history. 
Christians are sometimes reproached for worshipping 
the pale, emaciated form of a crucified Lord. Mr 
H. G. Wells, for instance, contrasts his idea of God 
with the Christian, and says: “‘ We are the militant 
followers of a militant God. We can appreciate and 
admire the greatness. of Christ, this gentle being 
upon whose nobility the theologians trade. But 
submission is the remotest quality of all from our 
God, and a moribund figure is the completest inver- 
sion of His likeness as we know Him. A Christianity 
which shows, for its daily symbol, Christ risen and 
trampling victoriously upon a broken cross, would be 
far more in the spirit of our worship.” * Curiously 
enough, in a foot-note to this passage, Mr Wells 
gives two quotations, one from Bishop Westcott and 
the other from Bishop Temple, which he says 
express almost exactly the same sentiments as his 
own, but which he regards as “‘ exceptional utter- 
ances, interesting as showing how clearly parallel 
are the tendencies within and without Christianity.” 
But so far as Christianity is concerned the tendency 
is certainly not new, nor are the utterances referred 
to exceptional. ‘The Book of the Revelation itself 
is a refutation of all such suggestions. It is true 
that there have often been those who have misin- 
terpreted Christianity by dwelling exclusively on 
the thought of the crucified Saviour; but perhaps 
there are more to-day who misrepresent it by taking 
the idea of the living, reigning Lord and interpret- 
ing it, in an unspiritual fashion, according to merely 

1 God the Invisible King, p. 122. 
30 


THE LORD OF LIFE AND HISTORY 


earthly conceptions of kingship. There is no con- 
tradiction between the idea of the crucified and that 
of the militant Christ. The acceptance of the cross 
was not passive submission to evil; it was the most 
vigorous combating of its power. 


*¢*O Captain of the wars, whence won Ye so great scars ? 
In what fight did Ye smite, and what manner was the foe ? 
Was it on a day of rout they compassed Thee about, 
Or gat Ye these adornings when Ye wrought their overthrow?’ 


‘ *Twas on a day of rout they girded Me about, 

They wounded all My brow, and they smote Me through the 
side : 

My hand held no sword when I met their arméd horde 

And the conqueror fell down, and the Conquered bruised his 
pride. > 


It was by the cross that Christ conquered and it is 
from the cross that He reigns. So the glorified 
Christ of John’s vision, with all the impressive signs 
of unlimited power and authority upon Him, is still 
the one who “ became dead.” 

No apology needs to be made to the world for 
presenting it with a crucified Lord. The cross is 
the perpetual challenge to the world’s mistaken con- 
ceptions of success and lordship. ‘To pass by the 
cross in the presentation of the victorious Christ 
is to miss the compelling and subduing element of 
that great conception, and though it may help a 
popular appeal it will not secure a lasting devotion. 
As Mrs Herman puts it: “‘ It is quite easy to impress 
the ‘man in the street’ with the figure ofthe 
divine Warrior-King riding forth conquering and 
to conquer. The world never finds it difficult to 


1 Francis Thompson, The Veteran of Heaven. 


31 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


take off its hat to success. But our mission is not 
to impress men ; it is to subdue them by the mighty 
weakness of the cross. It is not the lifted hat we 
seek, but the bended knee.” ? 

We are vividly conscious to-day that life is full 
of struggle and conflict. Material power and phy- 
sical force seem to many to be the dominating 
factors of history. But when we recognize in a 
crucified Redeemer the Lord of Life and History 
we see that the final issue of the conflict must be 
determined by the omnipotence of suffering love. 
Here is the secret of Christian hope and confidence, 
possessing which we may march into every battle to 
the music of the triumphant song: “ Unto Him 
that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His 
blood and made us to be a kingdom, to be priests 
unto His God and Father ; to Him be the glory and 


the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” 


1 Christianity in the New Age, p. 110, 


32 


CHAPTER 4 


THE MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


“‘ The world is very evil, 
The times are waxing late ; 
Be sober and keep vigil, 
The Judge is at the gate, 
The Judge that comes in mercy, 
The Judge that comes with might, 
To terminate the evil, 
To diadem the right.” 


BERNARD DE Mortarx, Monk of Cluny ; 
tr. J. M. NEALE. 


WHAT we are accustomed to call the “ letters ”’ to 
the seven churches should rather be described as 
“‘ messages.” ‘They are not letters like those of St 
Paul; they were probably never sent separately to 
the individual churches,t nor meant to be read 
apart from each other and the book in which they 
are included. Nevertheless, they were written with 
immediate regard to the circumstances and needs of 
the churches addressed. In his Letters to the Seven 
Churches Sir Wm. Ramsay has used the wealth of 
his knowledge of the history, geography and archzo- 
logy of Asia Minor to illustrate in many striking and 

1 Dr Charles thinks they were, and that much later they were 
altered and adapted to fit in with the general scheme of the Book of 
the Revelation. The present writer, though he has profound 


respect for Dr Charles’ unrivalled knowledge of the subject, cannot 
help feeling that this theory creates more difficulties than it removes. 


33 Cc 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


suggestive ways these two chapters of the Book of the 
Revelation. We may doubt whether the parallel 
between the history and geography of these cities 
and the position of the little Christian communities 
living in them was as manifest to the Christian 
prophet of the first century as to the distinguished 
archeologist of the twentieth, but there is abundant 
evidence that John-had each church vividly in his 
mind’s eye as he wrote, and that what he said was 
prompted by a similar sense of pastoral responsi- 
bility to that which characterizes the letters of the 
Apostle Paul. 

But while John had in view the position and neces- 
sities of the individual churches, he passed beyond 
the individual to the general. ‘The seven he dealt 
with were representative of the Church as a whole, 
and it was to her that his prophetic message was 
addressed. He may have written these two chapters 
after completing the main portion of his work so 
that he could say some things more plainly and 
directly than he could do through the apocalyptic 
imagery of his visions. Even so these messages form 
an integral part of the book. ‘The living Lord who 
sends the message in each case is described in terms of 
the vision related in the first chapter and the seven 
- separate descriptions reproduce the figure of the 
vision in its entirety. Allusions are made and meta- 
phors used which can only be understood in the light 
of the symbolism of the later chapters. And the 
conditions and circumstances of the life of the 
churches, as reflected in these messages, give the 
earthly and temporal background for the visions that 
follow. 


34 


MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


To realize this background a detailed exposition of 
these two most interesting and suggestive chapters is 
not necessary. In itself such an exposition is ex- 
ceedingly helpful but it may easily obscure the view 
of the meaning of the Book of the Revelation as a 
whole, which is the object of our present quest. 
For this purpose we need to blend various aspects 
of the life and character of these seven churches 
into a picture that portrays the essential features of 
the Church in that age and enables us to compare 
with it the Church as we know it to-day. 

The conflict between the ideal and the actual was 
evident in John’s day as it has been in all ages. The 
ideal had not been defeated. In the life and char- 
acter of two of the churches it shone with undimmed 
radiance. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive the 
unqualified approval of their Lord. Yet they were 
not what would usually be called “ successful ” 
churches. Smyrna was an influential and prosperous 
city, proud of the strong position it had won and 
ambitious to be recognized as the first city of Asia, 
but the-Christians living there did not share in the 
city’s prosperity. They had suffered much from the 
bitter enmity of the Jews, whose bigotry and perse- 
cuting zeal was such that John described them as “a 
synagogue of Satan,” and their poverty was doubt- 
less aggravated by the spoiling of their goods during 
the outbreaks of mob violence which Jewish fana- 
ticism occasioned. But weak and struggling as she 
appears to be, the church at Smyrna, in the eyes of 
her Lord, possesses the true riches. And though 
there is immediately before her a short but terrible 
period during which she will have to suffer far more 


35 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


than she has yet done, He has confidence in her 
fidelity even to the point of martyrdom and He 
promises an imperishable reward—not a fading 
garland such as was so eagerly sought after by those 
who participated in the great athletic contests for 
which the city was famous, but a crown which 
would be “‘ life” in all the fullness of meaning of 
that pregnant word: 

Like Smyrna, Philadelphia was one of the least 
prominent and influential of the churches of Asia 
and she shares the distinction of receiving no word of 
reproach. Her trial also has hitherto been due to 
the malignant hostility of members of the Jewish 
community. ‘They claimed the exclusive possession 
of the divine favour and the right to close the very 
gates of the Kingdom of Heaven against the apos- 
tates who had joined the hated followers of the 
Nazarene. But they were not the true Israel; 
spiritual privilege and prerogative had passed from 
them to the Christian Church. And the “ key ”— 
the power of opening and shutting—was in the hands 
of Him who was sending the message. He had 
set before these faithful disciples an open door and all 
the sentences of excommunication passed by the 
synagogue could not shut it.* One day those proud, 
contemptuous Jews would discover their mistake 
and their attitude would be changed into one of 
respectful homage. Meanwhile the Philadelphian 
Christians must share in the persecution which was 


1 Many expositors interpret the phrase ‘“‘a door opened’’ in the 
sense in which Paul uses it as referring to opportunity for missionary 
work. But sucha reference does not appear to be called for here 
and the description of Christ in the address (v. 7) strongly suggests 
the interpretation which has been adopted above. 


36 


MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


to overtake the whole Church at the hands of the 
Empire, but the same patient devotion which had 
sustained them under the sufferings caused by Jewish 
hostility would carry them through the fiercer trial, 
and in the midst of it Christ Himself would keep 
them.’ 

The churches at Sardis and Laodicea form a 
striking contrast to those at Smyrna and Phila- 
delphia. Their parlous condition does not appear to 
have been due to the pressure of outward opposition 
or even to the disintegrating force of erroneous 
beliefs. Indeed, to the casual observer, they seemed 
to be in a flourishing condition. Sardis appeared to 
bea “‘ live ” church, full of activities of various kinds. 
The Laodicean Christians shared in the prosperity 
of the city in which they lived and possessed con- 
siderable influence and prestige. But both these 
churches had lost their spiritual vitality ; earnestness 
and enthusiasm had decayed and a spirit of compro- 
mise with the world had prevailed. In Laodicea the 
failure showed itself in self-complacency and care- 
lessness, while in Sardis there was positive moral 
contamination from the licentious atmosphere of a 
city devoted to the infamous worship of Cybele, 
the Mother Deity of the Phrygians. Yet even in a 
church so sternly condemned as Sardis there are 
some singled out for gracious and tender words of 
approval, and Laodicea, despite her nauseating con- 
dition, is patiently and affectionately exhorted, in 
the hope that there are some among her members 
who will recognize the voice of her excluded and 
forgotten Lord and so respond to it that He shall 

1 Rev, iii, 10. Cf. John xvii. 15. 


ah 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


once more enter into her fellowship bringing all that 
she really needs. 

In the case of the other three churches the praise 
and blame are mingled. Ephesus was the chief 
centre of the Christian faith in the East and the 
church there could show a very creditable record. 
She had been unwearied in toil and patience, stead- 
fast in her opposition to false teaching and to moral 
laxity, swift to detect impostors who sought to prey 
upon the unwary—a pillar of orthodoxy and a 
pattern of zeal! But her jealous concern for purity 
of doctrine and cleanness of life had put a strain upon 
her Christian charity which it had not been able to 
bear. Suspicion, censoriousness and faction had 
done their deadly work and she had lost the love of 
her early days—that love which the Master Himself 
had said was to be the distinguishing characteristic 
of His disciples.» Such failure was disastrous; un- 
less she repented and showed her repentance by 
returning to those practical works of charity in 
which she had been prominent at first, destruction 
must fall on her. 

Pergamum had proved her loyalty in the hour of 
trial. ‘That city was one of the earliest centres of 
Emperor-worship * and already an outbreak had taken 
place of the conflict between Cesar and Christ, 
of which this book has so much to say, and one of her > 
members, Antipas, had suffered martyrdom. But 
at the moment the peril of the church was from 


1 This seems to be the true interpretation. The loss of ‘“‘ first 
love’’ in the more modern and familiar sense of the phrase was the 
failure specially indicated in, the case of Laodicea, though in that 
instance it is described as ‘‘ lukewarmness.”’ 


a See p. 17. 
38 


MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


within. It arose from certain members of the party 
of the Nicolaitans who were found there as well as at 
Ephesus. ‘They are fiercely denounced and their 
sin is likened to that of Balaam who seduced Israel 
to the licentious worship of a foreign god. Probably 
the distinguishing characteristic of the Nicolaitans 
was that they rejected the rule against eating meat 
consecrated to idols. By so doing they opened the 
gate to a flood of temptations. Ina city so given up 
to paganism as Pergamum, the only hope of maintain- 
ing Christian purity lay in preserving an absolute 
separation in social relationships. ‘To relax the 
prohibition of meat consecrated to an idol meant 
opening the way to attendance at entertainments and 
feasts at which debauchery and obscenity were the 
rule. Thus, in the circumstances and conditions of 
life in such a place and at such a time, what might 
have been regarded merely as a _ conscientious 
scruple necessarily gained the force of a genuine 
moral principle, disregard of which must imperil the 
soul’s salvation. 

At Thyatira the evil had bitten deeper. That 
church was full of life and energy and had made 
steady progress in character and conduct. But the 
issue raised by the Nicolaitans had become acute. 
An influential woman, one who was recognized as 
a prophetess, had championed the “liberal” view 
and a good many members of the church had been 
led away by her. Thyatira was a commercial city 
and almost all its citizens belonged to some trade- 
guild, membership of which secured solid business 
and social advantages. But it was impossible to 
belong to these guilds without sharing in their 


A 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


banquets at which not only was acknowledgment 
made of pagan deities but there were orgies of un- 
bridled revelry which could not be tolerated by any 
high ideal of purity. It was doubtless argued by the 
prophetess and her followers that the religious 
element in these feasts was merely a form which did 
not involve any denial of the Christian faith and that 
the excesses which took place were not essential and 
need not be participated in by the Christian members 
of the guild. ‘They probably even claimed a superior 
enlightenment, saying that they must be acquainted 
with evil as well as good, and pitied those who knew 
not “the deep things.” Deep things, indeed they 
were, but “ of Satan” not of God! And those who 
gloried in them should meet with terrible retribution 
if they did not repent. Instead of the couch on 
which they shared the riotous enjoyment of the 
guild-feast they would find themselves cast ona bed 
of suffering and death. 

In these seven messages we have the principal 
features of the situation of the Church as the prophet 
saw it. [here were many loyal and faithful souls 
to be reckoned upon—some even in the darkest 
places. But the conflict with outward enemies and 
inward weaknesses was proceeding with varying 
fortunes. On the whole, the Church had success- 
fully braved the storm of outward opposition which 
had, up to this time, come chiefly from Jewish 
quarters. But the steady pressure of pagan sur- 
roundings, the inevitable tendency to seek ways of 
compromise with a social and business life that was 
honeycombed with idolatry and sensuality was 
causing severe strain in many directions and bringing 


40 


MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


to light dangerous weaknesses. On the other hand, 
where the conflict had been less severe and a greater 
measure of outward prosperity obtained, there was 
self-complacency and lukewarmness, while, where 
there had been successful endurance, there was reason 
to fear lest the victory had been won at the cost of 
the most precious possession of brotherly love. But 
now it behoved the Church to set her house in order, 
repenting of all failures and repairing all weaknesses, 
for a great and terrible trial was about to come upon 
her, after which the prophet believed that the long 
cherished hope of the Lord’s return would be 
gloriously fulfilled. 

Yet the Church had not to look to any promise for 
the future as the ground of her confidence. Her 
Lord was not absent from her life. In the majestic 
vision with which the book opens, the seven 
churches have been seen as seven lampstands 
among which He moved, and their angels as the 
stars He held in His hand. And now these separate 
messages reveal His intimate concern with all that 
touched the life of each little community. He is 
described in the addresses in different aspects of 
His appearance in that splendid vision and generally 
the aspect chosen has some particular appropriate- 
ness to the need of the church addressed. But 
besides the encouraging fact that He has not 
forsaken the Church, despite all faithlessness 
and failure, indication that her case is not hope- 
less is given in the promises made to those who 
overcome. 

It is very significant that these promises are made 
in each case not merely to the church addressed 


41 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


but to the individual members. In the famous 
speech of Pericles praising the Athenian heroes who 
had fallen in battle he says: ‘‘ The sacrifice they 
collectively made was individually repaid to them ; 
for they received again each one for himself a praise 
which grows not old.” * So it is with these warriors 
of a spiritual strife. And in each case the reward is 
appropriate to the peculiar conditions of the struggle. 
Ephesus is in danger of destruction but there those 
who are victorious are promised immortal life— 
admission to the privilege forfeited in Eden.? 
Smyrna through faithfulness in suffering was winning 
life in its fullest and richest sense and those who 
triumphed there are promised immunity from the 
terrible fate of the second death in the lake of fire.* 
The victors at Pergamum, who refused the forbidden 
food of pagan feasts, should partake of a heavenly 
banquet—the manna in the ark which, according to 
Jewish tradition, Jeremiah had hidden in a cave 
until the Messianic reign should come.* They 
should also receive a white stone with a new name, 
secret to themselves and Christ, which would be the 
symbol of some gift of power, like the amulets of the 
popular magic of the time. In the message to 
Thyatira the reward mentioned is the sharing of 
Christ’s authority and the mysterious addition is 
made of the gift of “‘ the morning star ”—perhaps 
the promise that the future belonged to the victor : 


““ Our low life was the level’s and the night’s ; 
He’s for the morning.’’ 5 


1 Thucydides 2, 43 (Jowett). 2 Cf. Rev. xxii. 2 and 14. 
BCR WO, TAL, eee eh 4 2 Macc. ii. 1-8. 
5 Browning, A Grammarian’s Funeral. 


42 


MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 


To the faithful few in Sardis who had not defiled the 
earthly robes of flesh should be given the heavenly 
resurrection body, garments of light and glory, and 
their names should not be removed from the roll of 
God’s own people.’ 

The reward promised to the faithful of Phila- 
delphia would make a special appeal to people living 
in such a city, full, as it was, of temples with their 
numerous pillars and statues. ‘The Christian Church 
was often likened to a spiritual temple and those 
whose victory was won by endurance and patience 
would be its strength and support. ‘The priest who 
officiated in the temple devoted to the worship of 
the Emperor would, at the end of his year of office, 
erect his statue in it, inscribing upon it his name, his 
father’s name, his place of birth and his year of 
office. So should the faithful stand for ever in the 
temple of God. But the names written upon them 
would be His name and the name of His city—that 
sacred name, to know the secret of which gave power 
over its bearer. So God bestows upon the faithful 
the privilege of invoking His power, entering into the 
secret of His nature and abiding for ever in His 
presence. A similar great and glorious promise is 
made to those who overcome at Laodicea. They 
should share in the triumph and reign of their 


Lord. 


4 Cf. Rev. xx. 12 and 15. 


43 


CHAPTER 5 


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER 
AND REDEMPTIVE LOVE 


‘* Love is and was my King and Lord, 
And will be, tho’ as yet I keep 
Within his court on earth, and sleep 
Encompass’d by his faithful guard, 


And hear at times a sentinel 

Who moves about from place to place, 

And whispers to the worlds of space, 

In the deep night, that all is well.” 
TENNYSON. 


Tue Revelation was not given to John in a solitary 
ecstatic experience, but we need not look for a 
detailed account of the separate visions which came 
to him in the book in which he has recorded the 
complete narrative of them. There are, however, 
indications of new beginnings from time to time 
and one such occurs at the commencement of the 
fourth chapter. 

Again the mystic sense was quickened within him. 
He saw a door into heaven standing opened and heard 
the trumpet voice, which at first had called him to 
write, summoning him to go up and see the things 
which must come to pass. In his first vision he had 
been commanded to write ‘‘ the things which are 


44 


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER 


> J) hea | 


and the things which shall come to pass hereafter. 
The messages to the seven churches dealt with 
*‘ things that are,” but only “ things that are” on 
earth, though they were viewed from the heavenly 
standpoint. More than that, however, was needed. 
*¢ ‘Things that are ” in heaven must be manifested if 
“the things that shall come to pass’? were to be 
understood. We can never understand earthly 
happenings unless we view them in the light of 
heavenly realities. ‘The drama of human history 
needs to be seen against the background of the divine 
and eternal order. So when John was again caught 
up into a spiritual ecstasy it was these things that 
were first revealed to him. Before he received the 
visions of judgment he was confirmed in that optim- 
ism of faith, which seems so unwarrantable to those 
who have no spiritual insight : 
** God’s in His heaven— 
All’s right with the world ! ”’ 

But what sort of a God must one believe in to hold 
such a daring creed as that? John’s vision will 
answer that question, for the conception it sets 
forth, in the language of a symbolism which kindles 
even the dullest imagination, is that of the Sover- 
eignty of Creative Power and Redemptive Love. 

A throne is set in heaven and there is One sitting 
upon it. That “One” John ventures neither to 
name nor describe. Indeed he sees no form, only a 
dazzling glory of light and colour. Ezekiel had 
described a similar manifestation of the divine 
presence in a fiery cloud glowing and flashing with 
colours * such as he had seen in a brilliant rainbow 

1 Rev. i. 19. 4) Ezek, 1.27 \and) 23. 


45 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


in the clear atmosphere of the East. Probably the 
form of John’s vision and the language in which he 
described it owes something to this vision of Ezekiel. 
John likens the colours he sees to the flashing of 
gems, the jasper and the sardius (perhaps the opal 
and the blood-red cornelian) seen through a halo of 
emerald green which overarches the throne like a 
rainbow. No strain is put upon the symbolism if 
the green halo is regarded as a gracious provision 
enabling weak human eyes to approach the blazing 
light which veils the divine presence.  Pliny’s 
Natural H1story, a book written during the same age 
as the Revelation, says that when the eyes are 
blinded by any other sight, that of the emerald 
restores them. 

But though John does not see the form of Him 
who sits upon the throne, there are other beings in 
that presence chamber whom he can describe. 
Ranged round the throne are twenty-four other 
thrones and on them seated twenty-four white- 
robed elders wearing crowns of gold. ‘These are not 
to be regarded as representatives of the Church, 
whether Jewish or Christian. They are simply an 
order of angels in immediate attendance upon God. 
There are allusions to them in Jewish literature and 
probably St Paul refers to them when he mentions 
“thrones ” first in the order of the celestial hier- 
archy.. Why there are twenty-four of them is not 
clear, but the fact that, at a later stage of the vision, 
they render the priestly ministry of offering the 
prayers of the saints as golden bowls of incense,’ 
suggests that they are looked upon as the heavenly 

1 Col. i. 16. 3 Rev. v. 8 


46 


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER 


representatives of the twenty-four courses of priests 
which served in the Jewish Temple.’ 

Besides these elders there stand round the throne, 
one in the middle of each side of it, four mysterious 
‘living creatures.” These correspond to the four 
cherubim of Ezekiel’s vision,’ but instead of having 
four faces each, the likeness of the lion, the ox, the 
man and the eagle are distributed between them and 
instead of four wings they have six, like the seraphim 
of Isaiah’s vision.* Beneath their wings they are 
full of eyes, suggesting the sleepless vigilance 
with which they guard the throne and, like the 
seraphim Isaiah saw, they are engaged in ceaseless 
adoration. 

It is not necessary to discuss the origin and 
development of the idea of the cherubim in Jewish 
belief to understand their place in John’s vision. 
For him they are the highest order of angels and any 
attempt to find a symbolical meaning in them, as, 
for instance, the personification of the powers of 
nature, draws away attention to a detail which is 
not intended to have any significance apart from the 
whole conception of the heavenly court to which it 
contributes. 

The sense of awe in the divine presence, which is 
aided by the perception of these two orders of 
angelic beings, is deepened by the “ lightnings, 
voices and thunders”? which proceed out of the 
throne and the seven lamps of fire burning before 
it, representing the seven spirits of God—the fullness 
and intensity of the energy of the divine life. The 
crystal sea also, which stretches between the prophet 

1 xy Chron. xxiv. aE Zeki, (6 Che Xi) 2520,. 3 Isa. vi. 


47 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


standing at the door of heaven and the throne on 
which his gaze is fixed, gives the impression of the 
distance which intervenes between him and the 
Majesty he contemplates. All these details of the 
vision have their counterpart in the Old Testament, 
but their combination in this prophetic vision is 
unique and leaves an indelible impression upon the 
spiritual. imagination. What that impression was 
for the prophet John is shown by the outburst of 
song which he records, for as the cherubim praise 
the holiness of God, the four-and-twenty elders, 
casting their crowns before the throne in token of 
loyal homage, chant a hymn of praise to His creative 
power: “ Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, 
to receive the glory and the honour and the power: 
for thou didst create all things, and because of thy 
will they were, and were created.” 

Like the chorus of the Greek drama this angelic 
song forms a sort of commentary on what is being 
shown to the spectator, interpreting its inner signi- 
ficance and preparing the mind and heart for the 
fitting response to it. It is the Sovereignty of 
Creative Power that the vision reveals and the song 
expresses. The earthly ruler from whom John and 
his fellow-Christians stood in peril bade his servants 
refer to him as “ Our Lord and God.” Christians 
are reminded of the only One who can claim that 
title, and because He is on the throne they need not 
fear. Yet this is not all they need for the encourage- 
ment of their faith and the confirmation of their 
hope. ‘There is an element lacking in the conception 
of God the vision thus far suggests and a note missing 
from the great chorus of praise—a note which would 


48 


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER 


transform the Hymn of Creation into the Hymn of 
Redemption. 

So, in the kaleidoscopic fashion of these inspired 
visions, there is a shifting of some features of the 
scene and fresh things are observed. The form 
behind the dazzling glory becomes visible to the 
prophet and he sees a book in His hand. Like the 
roll of Ezekiel’s vision * it is so full that the writing 
has overflowed to the reverse side and can be seen 
as the book is held rolled up in the hand. Perhaps 
John felt instinctively that this book, like Ezekiel’s, 
contained “** lamentations and mourning and woe.” 
Anyhow, there were various associations of ideas 
which would lead him to recognize this as the Book 
of Destiny and to expect to find in it that revelation 
of the things which were to come to pass which had 
been promised him. 

But the book is *‘ close sealed with seven seals ” 
and though a strong angel, in a voice which sounds 
through the universe, challenges any one who is 
worthy to come and break the seals, there is no re- 
sponse and John weeps much in bitter disappoint- 
ment that the revelation he expected cannot be 
made. ‘Then one of the elders comforts him with 
the assurance that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
the Root of David, has won the victory which 
enables Him to open the book. So John looks up 
through his tears to see this mighty conqueror, but 
instead of a Lion he sees a Lamb. ‘The symbol of 
strength and force is supplanted by the symbol of 
submissiveness, innocence and gentleness. More- 
over the Lamb is evidently one which had been 

1 Ezek. ii. 10, 


49 D 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


offered in sacrifice, for though it lives it bears the 
marks of having been slaughtered. Further details 
are added which enrich the symbolism but make 
any harmonious reproduction of the vision impos- 
sible. ‘The Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, 
signifying the perfection of strength and knowledge. 
It stands “in the midst of the throne and the four 
living creatures and in the midst of the elders ”— 
a phrase which cannot be interpreted by the con- 
struction of a plan of the heavenly court, but which 
conveys the idea that the Lamb is the central figure 
of the scene and upon it the eyes of all present are 
fastened. 

Then the Lamb advances and takes the book from 
the hand of Him who sits upon the throne. ‘This 
significant action is the signal for a fresh and more 
glorious outburst of praise than that which the 
prophet had previously heard. It begins with the 
four living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders, 
who are now seen to have harps and golden bowls of 
incense. They prostrate themselves before the Lamb, 
paying it the reverence they had previously paid to 
Him who sat upon the throne, and as they do so they 
sing anew song: “* Worthy art thou to take the book 
and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain and 
_ didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of 
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and 
madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and 
priests ; and they reign upon the earth.” ‘Then the 
strain 1s taken up by the innumerable host of angels 
who sing: “ Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain 
to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and 


might, and honour and glory and blessing.” And, 
50 


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CREATIVE POWER 


finally, from the remotest regions of the universe, all 
created things join in the great chorus, which grows 
and swells into the splendid doxology: ‘‘ Unto him 
that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb, be 
the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the 
dominion for ever and ever.” ‘The last word, as 
the first, is left to the four living creatures who utter 
their great “ Amen,”’ while the elders bow in speech- 
less adoration. 

The message of this sublime vision may be sug- 
gested by the words of Jesus: ‘* Ye believe in God, 
believe also in me.” ‘To hold, in days of appalling 
darkness and dreadful calamity, the faith that 


** God’s in His heaven— 
All’s right with the world ! ”’ 


is only possible when God is recognized as One to 
whom belongs not only the sovereignty due to the 
power which created the universe but also that which 
must be yielded to the love which has made all the 
burden of evil and suffering its own concern and 
borne it in uttermost self-sacrifice. John had per- 
ceived the glory of such a God in Jesus Christ, and 
the vision granted to him in Patmos was the fresh 
and vivid assurance of this unalterable fact in the 
strength of which he and his fellow-sufferers could 
face anything and everything which came to them. 


LY 


CHAPTER 6 


THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS 


“O Lily of the King! I speak a heavy thing, 
O patience, most sorrowful of daughters ! 
Lo, the hour is at hand for the troubling of the land, 
And red shall be the breaking of the waters. 


Sit fast upon thy stalk, when the blast shall with thee talk, 
With the mercies of the King for thine awning ; 

And the just understand that thine hour is at hand, 

Thine hour at hand with power in the dawning. 

When the nations lie in blood, and their kings a broken brood, 
Look up, O most sorrowful of daughters ! 

Lift up thy head and hark what sounds are in the dark 

For His feet are coming to thee on the waters ! ”’ 


FRANCIS THOMPSON. 


Tue central portion of the book, to which we now 
come, may be likened to a drama in three acts, the 
Seals, the Trumpets and the Bowls.*. These three 
acts, however, do not follow each other in unbroken 
sequence. ‘Three times the progress of the drama is 
interrupted by the description of separate visions, 
the purpose of which is to comfort the spectators in 
view of what has been or will be shown. 

The seals are opened by the Lamb but the con- 
tents of the book are not read out. ‘The revelation 

1 This analogy is helpful but it is pressed too far when the 


attempt is made to get the whole book into a strictly dramatic 
scheme. 
§2 


THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS - 


is to the eye rather than to the ear and the Judgment 
which is to take place is unfolded in action in the 
vision of the prophet. At the opening of the first 
four seals four different coloured horses appear with 
their riders, each summoned by one of the four 
living creatures “ saying, as with a voice of thunder, 
Come.” The four horses and their colours are 
suggested by the visions of Zechariah,’ but their 
significance here is quite different from that which 
they had for the Old Testament prophet. 

The first horse is white ; its rider carries a bow and 
there is given to him a crown, for he comes forth 
conquering and to conquer. White was the colour 
of victory and the horse with its rider is therefore 
at once recognized to be symbolical of triumphant 
war. But who is the conqueror? In a later 
passage of this book ? Christ is represented as riding 
on a white horse but that cannot be the meaning 
here, as the time for His victorious manifestation has 
not yet arrived and, besides, He is now before us as 
the Lamb opening the seals. It is no more satis- 
factory to interpret this horse and its rider as the 
victorious progress of the Gospel. All four of these 
horses with their riders represent woes which must 
fall upon the earth and this horse and rider must 
therefore be interpreted not of any spiritual warfare 
by which evil is overthrown, but of war, which is 
itself an evil destroying life and happiness. The 
fact that the horseman carries a bow suggests that 
he was the Parthian king. ‘The Parthians were the 
foes whom the inhabitants of the Eastern provinces 
of the Empire had most cause to dread, and their 


1 Zech, i. 8; vi. 1-8. 2 xix. II. 


53 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


warriors were all horsemen expert in the use of the 
bow.’ It was natural enough that the idea of war, 
especially a war of invasion and conquest, should be 
associated in the mind of anyone hving in Asia 
Minor with the thought of the Parthians. Besides 
this, as we shall see later on, there was at this time a 
widespread anticipation of the reappearance of 
Nero from the East atded by Parthian armies.” 

The second horse is red and its rider is given a 
greatsword. ‘The charge that he should “ take peace 
from the earth, and that they should slay one an- 
other ”? makes a further reference to war incontest- 
able, but this time it is not the aggression of an 
external enemy but revolution and civil war within 
the Empire itself. The third horse is black and its 
rider carries a balance in his hand. A voice from 
the midst of the living creatures interprets the 
symbolism. Famine will follow war and the scarcity 
will be so great that the whole day’s wages of a 
labouring man will be absorbed by the purchase of a 
daily ration of wheat for himself, while if he buys 
barley, as a cheaper food, he will not have enough for 
himself and his family. And yet while the neces- 
saries of life are so scarce, of its luxuries, the oil and 
the wine, there will be no lack. Probably there is a 
reference here to an agitation that would be fresh 
in the memory of John and his readers. In the year 
gz Domitian had attempted to reduce the vineyards 
in the provinces by half in order to promote the 
cultivation of cereals, but he had been obliged to 
withdraw the edict owing to the violent opposition 

1 Cf. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, p. 58. 
2 Cf. Kev. xvi. 12 and see pp. 73, 95, 116, 118, 127. 


54 


THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS 


of the Asiatic cities. Those who recall the contro- 
versy in days of war scarcity, as to the respective 
claims of Beer and Bread, will not fail to appreciate 
the prophet’s point ! 

The fourth horse is pale or livid—the colour of a 
corpse—and its rider is Death. If the symbolism 
is to be interpreted consistently Death here must be 
understood as Pestilence in the way we use the word 
when we speak of the Black Death, and in any case 
that meaning is predominant. But in the passage 
as it stands other forms of death are included, though 
two of them have already been referred to under 
the symbols of War and Famine. These words, 
however, are a quotation from the book of Ezekiel 
and the overlapping of ideas they introduce may be 
accounted for by the writer’s impulse to use the 
phraseology of earlier prophets whenever it recurs 
to his mind as in any way embodying the conceptions 
he wishes to set forth. A further complication of 
the imagery is found in the introduction of Hades, 
who is described as following with Death. Hades 
is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Sheol, which 
was the name given by the Jews to the vague, shadowy 
realm in which departed spirits were believed to 
continue their existence. John’s general usage was 
to associate Hades with Death,” and he may have 
done so here without clearly visualizing the place of 
Hades, whether as a second rider on the livid horse or 
not. Possibly, however, the reference to Hades here 
may be due to the wandering attention of an early 
copyist of the manuscript who followed the prophet’s 
usual habit of bracketing Death and Hades together. 


avEzek: XIV. 20. a CL RV, leon ieee Lo pitts 


55 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


The opening of the fifth seal introduces a scene of 
different character. Instead of the approaching 
calamities being indicated by symbolical. figures 
who are directly charged to bring them about, they 
are now indirectly suggested by a vision of some 
who have already passed through similar experi- 
ences and who wait their consummation until their 
brethren can share it with them. Persecution is 
now the evil in view and the souls of those who have 
already endured their martyrdom are represented as 
the blood of sacrifices flowing at the foot of the 
heavenly altar on which they have been offered. It 
is tempting to see included in these the martyrs of 
pre-Christian ages and to illustrate the conception 
from the famous eleventh chapter of Hebrews,* 
but there can be little doubt that John is thinking 
only of Christians. They had suffered, as he was 
suffering, “ for the word of God and the testimony 
of Jesus.” * It was those who had been killed in the 
terrible persecution under Nero whom John would 
chiefly have in mind, though he would remember 
others, such as Antipas *® and the first disciples who 
were faithful unto death, whose story we have in 
the Acts of the Apostles. ‘These souls, like so many 
others still in the flesh, are distressed at the delay 
of the vindication of God’s righteous judgment. 
The passionate cry “ How long?” goes up from 
them as it has done from the saints through all the 
ages. ‘The reply is one of assurance and comfort to 
them, but ominous to the prophet and those to 
whom he writes. ‘They are told to wait until their 
number is completed and are assured that the interval 

1 Cf. Heb. xi. 39 and 40. 2 Rev. i. 9; cf. vi. 9. 8 ii. 13. 


56 


THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS 


will be short. It was a common Jewish belief of the 
time that the end of the world would come when the 
destined number of the righteous was complete. 
Some of the references to this belief in other Jewish 
books show that “the righteous” are considered 
to be the martyrs and John adopts that view here. 
The number of the martyrs will soon be complete ; 
it is for him and his readers that the souls beneath 
the altar wait. Meanwhile there is given to them a 
white robe,’ the heavenly vesture of the resurrection 
body with which being clothed they shall no longer 
be found naked souls.* Early Christian thought 
on the intermediate state had many variations, but 
John’s conception seems to be that the martyrs 
received this heavenly body as a special privilege 
anticipating the final bliss of the righteous.® 

The opening of the sixth seal brings the climax of 
the judgments in upheavals and convulsions of the 
physical order. John vividly describes the state of 
panic and terror which follows these portents, 
affecting all ranks and classes. In their consterna- 
tion they think the Day of Judgment has come and 
conscience lashes them to despair. Earthquake, 
eclipse and shooting stars were regarded by the world 
of that day as sure signs of disaster and doom and in 
the Jewish literature with which this book has so 
many affinities they are regularly described as pre- 
cursors of the end of the age. The imagery is 
directly traceable to the Old Testament prophets: 
“¢ And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the 
earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ‘The 
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into 

1 Cf. p. 43. 2 2 Cor. v. 2 and 3. $) Cfo pir40- 


bY, 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 
blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord 


come.”1 “J clothe the heavens with blackness, 
and I make sackcloth their covering.” ? ‘* And all 
the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens 
shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host 
shall fade away, as the leaf fadeth from off the 
vine, and as a fading leaf from the fig tree.” * ‘* And 
men shall go unto the caves of the rocks, and into 
the holes of the earth, from before the terror of 
the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty when 
He ariseth to shake mightily the earth.” * ‘They 
shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the 
hills, Fall on us.” ® 

But there is another great passage which the open- 
ing of each of these six seals brings to mind, namely 
the discourse of our Lord upon the Last Things 
recorded in Matthew xxiv., Mark xiii. and Luke xxi. 
Many scholars think that this discourse is a Jewish 
apocalypse which has been incorporated with the 
Gospel narrative, but other passages in the recorded 
sayings of Christ and the persistence of these ideas 
in the early Christian Church are sufficient to show 
that there was a prominent element in our Lord’s 
teaching with which the discourse as it has come 
down to us is in harmony. Our Lord clothed the 
truths He had to teach His disciples in forms that 
were familiar to them, but He constantly enriched 
and transformed the old conceptions. So it was 
with these ideas about the coming end of the age 
and the approach of the Messianic reign. As Dr 
Sanday has put it: ‘“‘So far as He took over the 

1 Joel ii. 30, 31. 2 Isa. 1. 3. 8 Isa. XXXiv. 4. 

4 Isa. il. 19. 5 Hosea, x. 8. 


58 


THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS 


transcendent supernatural side of the expectation, 
He transformed and spiritualized while He aces 
it. 99 4 

In this way we must deal with John’s vision if we 
are to discover its significance for ourselves. The 
judgments which come into view at the opening of 
the seals are things that were happening or expected 
to happen in the world of his day as John knew it. 
They are things which have happened again and 
again in the course of history and they happen still. 
Wars and revolutions, with the want and suffering 
and the breaking up of all social order which inevit- 
ably follow in their train, are familiar phenomena 
to-day. Once more the age seems to be coming to 
an end and men’s hearts fail them for fear as they 
contemplate the confusion and distress. It is not 
possible to be content with any religion which cannot 
include all this in its scheme of things. But the 
religion of Jesus Christ is adequate to the situation. 
It shows us that all these happenings are under the 
control of infinite, holy, suffering Love. The Lamb 
that was slain breaks the seals and the forces that are 
unloosed are ultimately made to contribute to the 
great end He has in view. 

Dr Vaughan, in his Lectures published sixty years 
ago, takes this chapter as a commentary on the dis- 
course of Christ above referred to and speaking of 
the Master’s prophecy in words which may be 
applied to the servant’s, he says: ‘“‘ Wherever 
there is a little flock in a waste wilderness ; wherever 
there is a Church in a world; wherever there 


1 Life of Christ in Recent Research, p. 64. See also footnote 
toxp. 160. 
59 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


is a power of unbelief, ungodliness, and violence, 
throwing itself upon Christ’s faith and Christ’s 
people, and seeking to overbear and to demolish 
and to destroy ; whether that power be the power of 
Jewish bigotry and fanaticism, as in the days of the 
first disciples; or of Pagan Rome, with its idolatries 
and its cruelties, as in the days of St John and of the 
Revelation ; or of Papal Rome, with its lying wonders 
and its antichristian assumptions, in ages later still ; 
or of open and rampant atheism, as in the days of 
the first French Revolution ; or of asubtler and more 
insidious infidelity like that which is threatening now 
to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect; wherever 
and whatever this power be—and it has had a thou- 
sand forms, and may be destined yet to assume a 
thousand more—then, in each successive century, 
the words of Christ to His first disciples adapt 
themselves afresh to the circumstances of His 
struggling servants; warn them of danger, exhort 
them to patience, arouse them to hope, assure them 
of victory ; tell of a near end, for the individual and 
for the generation; tell also of a far end, not for 
ever to be postponed, for time itself and the world ; 
predict a destruction which shall befall each enemy 
of the truth and predict a destruction which shall 
befall the enemy himself, whom each in turn has 
represented and served; explain the meaning of 
tribulation, show whence it comes, and point to its 
swallowing up in glory; reveal the moving hand 
above, and disclose from behind the cloud which 
conceals it, the clear definite purpose and the 
unchanging loving will.” ? 
1 Lectures on the Revelation u St John, Vol. I. pp. 182, 183. 
O 


CHAPTER 7 


TRIUMPHANT HOSTS 


““The most refined mysticism, the most exalted spiritual 
experience is partly a product of the social and intellectual 
environment in which the personal life of the mystic has 
formed and matured. There are no experiences of any sort 
which are independent of preformed expectations or unaffected 
by the prevailing beliefs of the time. Every bit of our inner or 
outer life, however much it is our own, is shot through with 
lines of colour due to social and racial suggestions. ... 
Mystical experiences will be, perforce, saturated with the 
dominant ideas of the group to which the mystic belongs, and 
they will reflect the expectations of that group and that 
period.’’—Dr Rurus JOoNEs. 


Tue seventh chapter of the Book of the Revelation 
contains the first of the three interludes in the pro- 
gress of the drama, referred to at the commencement 
of our last chapter. John has just been describing 
the state of panic and terror which would overtake 
all ranks and classes as the awful Day of Judgment 
drew near. Before proceeding to a further descrip- 
tion of the woes to come he pauses to give a message 
of encouragement to the faithful. He would sustain 
them with a firm assurance of their own safety 
while they contemplate the dreadful vision of im- 
pending evils. 

We have already seen that John’s description of 
his visions is very largely given in the symbolism and 

I 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


even the phraseology of that strange class of Jewish 
literature which we now call “ apocalyptic,” and 
that sometimes he quotes passages from it with such 
little modification that they retain their Jewish 
character and it is difficult for us to see the Christian 
significance which he read into them. In the first 
eight verses of this chapter we have an example of 
this kind of thing. “These verses appear to be a 
fragment of some Jewish apocalypse, now lost to us, 
which John uses with only slight alterations for his 
purposes. Probably this Jewish apocalypse was one 
of the elements which moulded his mystical experi- 
ences and in relating these experiences he lapses at 
this point into the use of the language which in his 
subconsciousness was the suggestion of certain 
features of his vision.. 

Four angels are seen holding in leash the four 
winds which represent the forces which are to bring 
disaster and destruction on the earth. Another 
angel arises from the East, the direction from which 
light and hope come, bearing the seal of the living 
God, and he commands the four angels to restrain 
the power of the winds until the servants of God are 
sealed in their foreheads. ‘The prophet does not 
witness the sealing, but it takes place, and he hears 
the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four 
thousand—twelve thousand from each of the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 

The idea of the sealing may be traced back to 
Ezekiel* who speaks of a mark being placed upon 
the foreheads of the faithful to distinguish them from 
the wicked in order that they might be spared in the 

1 Ezek. ix. 4. 
62 


TRIUMPHANT HOSTS 


day of destruction, and it frequently recurs in Jewish 
writings. In the Psalms of Solomon, for instance, 
there is a reference to this method of discriminating 
between the righteous and the wicked amid the 
catastrophes of judgment: “‘ The flame of fire and 
the wrath against the unrighteous shall not touch 
him, when it goeth forth from the face of the Lord 
against sinners, to destroy all the substance of 
sinners, for the mark of God is upon the righteous 
that they may be saved. Famine and sword and 
pestilence shall be far from the righteous, for they 
shall flee away from the pious as men pursued in 
ware 

The number of the sealed, twelve thousand from 
each of the twelve tribes, evidently denotes the com- 
pleteness of Israel and the careful enumeration, tribe 
by tribe, emphasizes that conception. Some difh- 
culties arise about the order in which the tribes are 
mentioned. Judah heads the list instead of Levi, 
but that is an alteration in the order that a Christian 
would naturally make, Christ having descended 
from Judah. Then Dan is omitted altogether, 
Manasseh being substituted though Manasseh should 
logically be regarded as included with Ephraim in 
Joseph. The most probable explanation of this 
omission is that in the circles of Jewish thought from 
which this passage originally emanated Dan was 
regarded as the tribe from which Antichrist would 
come and therefore was dropped out of the true 
Israel altogether.’ 


i Psa. Sol. xv. 6-9. 

2 It is possible that the explanation of the difficulty may be a 
copyist’s error in writing Man for Dan which was afterwards taken 
as an abbreviation of Manasseh. 


63 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


But now the purely Jewish element in John’s 
vision, or the Jewish phraseology in which he tried 
to utter his vision, passes. ‘The vision, or his 
memory of it, becomes clearer and fuller. It was 
no limited and racial redemption that had been 
revealed to him. ‘Though a voice speaking from the 
traditions and memories which had shaped his sub- 
conscious mind might tell of a Jewish expectation 
for the future, when his eyes were fully opened to 
spiritual realities by the Spirit of God it was not the 
representatives of the twelve tribes that he saw, but 
an innumerable multitude from all nations and tribes 
and peoples and tongues. 

A more prosaic interpretation of this passage is 
frequently adopted which regards the hundred and 
forty-four thousand as Jewish Christians and the 
great multitude as Gentiles. It seems logical © 
enough, but to attempt to interpret this book 
logically is to essay a hopeless task. We are dealing 
with the work of a man of mystic temperament in 
the throes of divine inspiration. We are witnessing 
the struggle to preserve the new wine of the revela- 
tion given to him in what are often old bottles stored 
in the cellars of memory. Here the bottle seems to 
burst as he uses it, but the wine is not lost. Some- 
how the Spirit of God enables him to create the 
vessel which will hold the precious draught. And so 
we have the sublime description of the triumphant 
host arrayed in white robes, bearing the palm 
branches of victory, standing before the throne and 
the Lamb. They chant together a great song of 
praise ascribing their salvation to God and the Lamb. 
Then the angels standing around take up the strain, 


64 


TRIUMPHANT HOSTS 


confirming the praise of the redeemed with their 
*“* Amen,” and adding their own sevenfold doxology, 
while they prostrate themselves in adoration. 

Who are these rejoicing conquerors ? Anticipat- 
ing that question the prophet records a dialogue be- 
tween himself and one of the elders of his vision in 
which they are shown to be those who have come out 
of the great tribulation—the fiery trial of martyrdom 
which John expects to overtake swiftly the faithful 
to whom he writes. ‘The white garments they wear 
are now interpreted not as in the previous chapter, 
where they signify the heavenly bodies given to the 
martyrs in anticipation of the resurrection, but as 
symbolizing the purity of faith and conduct with 
which they had emerged from their trial. But 
though they themselves had maintained this purity 
it was not of themselves ; it was due to the sacrifice 
of Christ. All believers owed their redemption to 
that sacrifice, but the martyrs were identified with 
their Lord in a special sense by the sufferings they 
endured. It was the fact that the blood of the 
Lamb had been shed for them that enabled them to 
endure to the shedding of their own blood in their 
testimony to Him. 

Now we turn to the matchless words which tell of 
the blessedness of these triumphant souls. Where in 
all literature shall we find such beauty and tenderness, 
such profound suggestion in such simple language, 
in so few lines, as the last three verses of this chapter ? 
Few passages in the Bible have such a powerful hold 
of our affections and imaginations as this. All the 
separate features of the imagery may be traced to 
their sources in Old Testament prophets and 


65 E 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


psalmists, but here they are woven together into a 
poetic unity which it is as foolish as unnecessary to 
break up by exposition and paraphrase. Com- 
mentators who see no more before them than an 
ancient text which they have to elucidate may limit 
all the wondrous promise to those whom John 
believed to be on the point of becoming martyrs 
for their faith, but we cannot refuse to regard the 
vision of blessedness which the Spirit of God en- 
abled him to see and to describe as valid for all 
humble, earnest souls who accept the word of God 
and the testimony of Jesus, and who, amid the 
difficulties, disappointments and sorrows that they 
encounter in this life, look forward with hope and 
confidence. ‘They know that eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man the things which God hath prepared for them 
that love Him, but such words as these come to 
them with refreshing suggestion, calming unrest and 
inspiring the serenity of assurance: “* He that sitteth 
on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. 
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; 
neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: 
for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto 
fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe 
away every tear from their eyes.” 


66 


CHAPTER 8 


THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS 


** Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord ; 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are 
stored ; 
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible, swift 
sword : 
His truth is marching on. 


He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call 
retreat ; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat : 
Be swift, my soul, to answer Him ! be jubilant my feet ! 
Our God is marching on.”’ 
Jutta WarpD Howe. 


As we come to the second of the three acts in the 
great drama of judgment it is inevitable that we 
should ask how their relation to each other is to be 
conceived. 

When the seventh seal is broken we should natur- 
ally expect the climax of the judgments, but instead 
of that a fresh start is made and a new series of judg- 
ments is heralded by the sounding of the seven 
trumpets. Again, when the seventh trumpet is 
sounded the close of the development does not 
follow but the seven angels with the seven bowls 
come into view and it seems as if the whole process 
recommences. Some interpreters have regarded the 
three series as representing three successive stages of 


67 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


history leading up to the final consummation. 
Others have considered that each of the three series 
is concerned with the same events, only setting them 
forth in somewhat different ways to emphasize and 
enforce the message. Another view combines the 
idea of progress with that of recapitulation, suggest- 
ing the illustration of the ascent of a tower by a 
spiral staircase. Each turn brings you to a view of 
the same landscape, but every time you come afresh 
to it the view is widened by the fact that you regard 
it from a greater height. ‘This conception is attrac- 
tive to the modern mind which finds much to support 
itin history. We can trace cycles of events in which 
everything seems to work up to a terrible climax, but 
the crisis comes and passes. It proves not to be 
the expected end. The forces which seemed to be 
bringing the final cataclysm group themselves in 
fresh ways and express themselves in new forms and 
another stage of the march to the ultimate goal is 
begun. 

It is difficult, however, to believe that such an 
idea was in the mind of the prophet. It is much 
more natural to regard the three series as representing 
different visions in which images and symbols re- 
appear in changing combinations and with varying 
significance, but all combining to convey one great 
message of judgment. An illustration may be 
drawn from a kaleidoscope in which the same pieces 
of coloured glass produce different patterns with 
each change that is made in the position of the 
instrument. Or, perhaps, the conception may be 
helpfully compared with that form of musical com- 
position known as a fugue, in which the notes of the 


68 


THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS 


original theme or themes continually reappear in 
different parts and undergo concurrent development 
with fresh harmonies. 

We return now to the breaking of the seventh 
seal and the appearance of the seven angels with 
trumpets. But before the angels continue the 
action of the drama, by sounding their trumpets, 
there is a pause. For about the space of half an 
hour the very praises of heaven are hushed and then 
in the silence, tense with expectation of the judg- 
ments to come, the prayers of the suffering saints 
come up before the throne of God. They rise 
like smoke from the golden altar? and with them there 
is mingled much incense from the golden censer of 
an angel whose duty it was to present the prayers of 
the righteous. Here we have an instance of a 
purely Jewish belief still lingering in the Christian 
mind despite the fact that Christ had been revealed 
as the great Intercessor.* But the truth of abiding 
validity is that the passionate cry for help, deliver- 
ance and even vengeance goes up to God. ‘There it 
is purged and purified from all that is selfish and 
unworthy and made to contribute to the fulfilment 
of the agelong purpose. 


‘“* Never a sigh of passion or of pity, 
Never a wail for weakness or for wrong, 
Has not its archive in the angels’ city, 
Finds not its echo in the endless song.” 3 


The prayers offered by the saints in this vision are 
answered. ‘The censer which had been used by the 
1 The imagery here is different from that of the earlier vision. 


Cf. Rev. v. 8. 
& Cf. Heb. vii. 25. 8 F. W. H. Myers, St Paul. 


69 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


angel who presented them to God is now used to 
cast the fire, with which the sacrifice of prayer had 
been consumed, upon the earth as a manifestation of 
judgment and thunders and voices and lightnings 
and an earthquake follow. The prayers were for 
vengeance and this answer to them is the prelude 
to the series of judgments upon the impenitent 
which the sounding of the trumpets will announce. 

The first four angels stand forth and sound their 
trumpets in turn and in response to each there 
follow terrible calamities in the natural world. In 
the description given of them there are reminis- 
cences of the plagues of Egypt and also of those 
volcanic phenomena with which a dweller in Patmos 
would be familiar. ‘There is a rain of hail and fire 
mingled with red dust making it look like blood. A 
burning mountain falls into the sea and turns it into 
blood. A great star falls like a burning torch upon 
the rivers and fountains and poisons them. ‘The 
light of sun, moon and stars fails. But in each case 
the catastrophe is only partial; one-third of the 
trees and grass are burned; one-third of the sea 
is turned into blood and one-third of the fish and the 
ships destroyed. Again it is a third of the waters 
which become wormwood, bringing death to those 
who drink from them, and the light of the sun, 
moon and stars is diminished in the same pro- 
portion. 

The judgments announced by these four trumpets 
refer entirely to physical disasters. ‘They are not 
to be allegorized nor need any attempt be made to 
harmonize them with the series of the seals. Com- 
pared with those they seem somewhat conventional, 


7O 


THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS 


but even the visions of an inspired prophet may not 
always have the same impressiveness or show the 
same grandeur of imagery. But after these four 
trumpets have sounded there is a heightening of 
tone and an intensification of imaginative power in 
the description of the vision. 

An eagle’ is seen flying in mid-heaven and this 
bird, so strong of wing and swift of flight, is recog- 
nized in similar literature as a messenger of woe. In 
a voice that all may hear he proclaims woe to the 
world because of the judgments the remaining 
trumpets are to announce. 

Then the fifth angel sounds his trumpet and a 
star falls from heaven to earth to whom is given the 
key of the abyss. For the interpretation of this 
weird imagery we must go to the apocalyptic litera- 
ture of the Jews. There we find that a fallen star 
signifies a fallen angel * and that the abyss is the great 
pit, supposed to be located somewhere in the middle 
of the earth, where such beings are imprisoned. 
One quotation from the Book of Enoch may be 
given to illustrate the conception. It describes the 
punishment of the fallen angels by the archangels: 
*‘ And I saw one of those four who had come forth 
first, and he seized that first star which had fallen 
from the heaven, and bound it hand and foot and 
cast it into an abyss: now that abyss was narrow and 


deep, and horrible and dark.” ® 


1 The reading “angel’’ in the Authorized Version is probably due 
to a copyist’s confusion of this verse with xiv. 6 
2 The influence of Babylonian and Chaldean astrology may be 
recognized here. The same influence affected Greek thought and 
there we find the stars identified with gods by the fourth century Bic. 
8 Book of Enoch, Ilxxxviil. I. 
71 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


In his vision John sees this abyss unlocked by the 
fallen angel and when the covering is removed a 
great smoke goes up from it darkening all the air and 
obscuring the light of the sun. Then, out of the 
smoke, a swarm of monstrous locusts appears. The 
appearance of these creatures reminds us of the vision 
of the prophet Joel, but he was speaking of the 
familiar pest which works such havoc in the fields and 
gardens. John’s vision is not of such. What he 
sees are infernal demons which hurt men, not trees 
and grass. In general appearance they remind him 
of locusts, but they have human faces with long 
hair and look as if they are wearing crowns of gold. 
Their teeth are like those of lions, they have breast- 
plates as it were of iron, and the rustling of their 
wings sounds like the rushing of chariots and horses 
into battle. ‘They have tails like scorpions and in 
them lies their terrible power to hurt men. All 
who had not the seal of God in their foreheads were 
tormented by them and so great was the torture 
they inflicted that their victims longed for death .- 
though it did not come. Like plagues of ordinary 
locusts this visitation lasted for five months. And 
these terrible beings were an ordered host under the 
direction of a king who was the angel of the abyss. 
He is called Abaddon in Hebrew, or Apollyon in 
Greek, both words meaning Destroyer. »/ 

The sounding of the sixth trumpet is the signal for 
another visitation more monstrous and awful still. 
Like the previous conception this has a starting- 
point in the thought of a calamity that it was quite 
natural to fear. ‘lhe reference to the unloosing of 
four angels at the river Euphrates and the vast 


72 


THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS 


army of horsemen set in motion by their release 
suggests an invasion of Parthians such as is alluded 
to in the description of the white horse which 
appears at the breaking of the first seal.* But just 
as the ordinary plague of locusts is developed into 
something much more terrible, so here the suggestion 
of an army of Parthian cavalry is developed into an 
innumerable host of demon-warriors riding dragon- 
horses. ‘The vastness of the army is indicated by 
the mention of the inconceivable number of two 
hundred millions. ‘he warriors are of terrifying 
aspect, their breastplates suggesting fire and smoke 
and brimstone. More awful still are their steeds. 
With heads like lions and tails like serpents having 
heads with which they bite men, they breathe fire 
and smoke and brimstone and with their breath they 
destroy a third part of the men on the earth. 

The fantastic imagery of these last two judgments 
cannot be interpreted legitimately so as to make any 
real appeal to the modern mind. Many attempts 
have been made, but all ignore the fact that John’s 
vision assumes a whole world of ideas which is 
utterly remote from our thought to-day. He is not 
here employing symbols to represent historical 
occurrences or psychological experiences. He is 
using his imaginative power to describe evil spirits, or 
demons, who are intensely real beings to him. With 
the Jews, as with many primitive peoples, it was 
customary to attribute all kinds of moral and phy- 
sical evils to personal agencies. And by the time 
Christ came a belief had grown up in a vast and 
highly-organized realm of evil spirits which was con- 

1 See p. 54. 
73 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


tinually at war with God and His purposes. ‘These 
beings were regarded partly as fallen angels, partly as 
the offspring of the unhallowed union of such with 
the daughters of men.* Our Lord did not deny 
this belief though He gave such a revelation of the 
grace and power of God as should release men from 
the fear it inspired. ‘The belief lingered through 
many centuries of the Christian era and indeed it is 
only the growth of modern scientific conceptions, 
coupled with a clearer perception of the implications 
of the gospel, that has destroyed it for us to-day. 
We must remember that these ideas were still 
vigorous in the minds of the prophet John and the 
people to whom he ministered. But, like St Paul,? 
he believed that Christ had conquered the demon 
world and though He still permitted its existence, 
He controlled and directed it to the accomplishment 
of His purpose. So when the Lamb breaks the 
seventh seal, out of which the seven trumpets come, 
part of the judgment that follows is executed by 
demons. ‘That they should take the form of mon- 
strous locusts or riders of lion-headed, serpent-tailed 
horses was quite in accord with current conceptions. 
Serpents, scorpions, mosquitoes and hybrid monsters, 
such as birds with the heads of lions or donkeys, 
_ were forms in which demons were commonly sup- 
posed to appear. And the enormous number of 
these beings is a characteristic feature of Jewish and 
all kindred systems of demonology. We see then 
that familiar Jewish ideas form the stuff out of 
which this vision is woven, but it is an immeasurable 
advance on them that the demons are subject to the 
1 Cf. Gen. vi. 1 and 2. 2 Cf. Col. ii. 15. 


74 


THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS 


authority of Christ and that they are not allowed to 
hurt those who have His seal on their foreheads. 

It is a simple fact of history that Christ has de- 
livered men from the terror of these supernatural 
enemies and that deliverance is still wrought where 
the gospel is proclaimed to peoples whose lives have 
been haunted by similar fears. A medical mis- 
sionary working in the Congo to-day writes of the 
African native as he knows him and says: “ Chris- 
tianity is for him the light that shines amid the 
darkness of his fears; it assures him that he is not 
in the power of nature spirits, or fetishes, and that 
no human being has any sinister power over another, 
since the will of God really controls everything that 
goes on in the world. 


‘I lay in cruel bondage 
Thou cam’st and mad’st me free.’ 


These words from Paul Gerhardt’s Advent hymn 
express better than any others what Christianity 
means for the primitive man. ‘That is again and 
again the thought that fills my mind when I take 
part in a service on a mission station.” * 

So these terrible visitations pass before the mystic 
eye of the prophet. They have been announced by 
trumpets and that very fact is a suggestion that they 
are meant as fearful warning. But the warning is 
not heeded. ‘ihose who escape do not repent of 
their idolatry and devil worship, their murders, 
sorceries, fornications and thefts. 

It is an old story often repeated. Calamities and 

1 Schweitzer, On the Edge of the Primeval Forest, p. 154. Cf. 


Glover, Christian Tradition and its Verification, Lec. 5; Jesus in the 
Experience of Men, chap. t. 


75 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


catastrophes have visited men careless of God and 
His will. Fearful retribution has followed upon 
great moral evils. Men with the seal of God in 
their foreheads have recognized the divine hand in 
these things and thought that when God’s judgments 
were in the earth the inhabitants would learn right- 
eousness. But men are not terrified into lasting 
repentance. It is not in the wind or the earthquake 
or the fire that God speaks to win the hearts of men, 
but in the still, small voice. Did John realize all 
the implications of the fact he sets forth so clearly 
in this book that victory is to the Lamb ? 


i) 


CHAPTER 9 


RENEWED INSPIRATION AND ASSURANCE 


‘‘ For every fiery prophet in old times, 
And all the sacred madness of the bard, 
When God made music through them, could but speak 
His music by the framework and the chord.”’ 
TENNYSON. 


THE progressive development of the drama is again 
interrupted at the close of the ninth chapter and 
is not resumed until the fourteenth verse of the 
eleventh chapter. This second interlude presents 
considerable difficulties of interpretation. 

We must remember that John was not writing as a 
literary artist who must carefully select his material, 
rigidly pruning all excrescences and redundancies 
and shaping the whole into harmonious proportions. - 
He was a prophet with a prophet’s message to deliver 
and he could not sacrifice anything relevant to that 
message to the form in which he sought to express 
it. The visionary experiences which had come to 
him and the fresh significance they had revealed in 
some familiar passages of earlier apocalyptic writing 
could not all be put into the drama of the Seals, 
Trumpets and Bowls. So these interludes are 
found which confuse the literary form of the book, 
but nevertheless serve to emphasize its message and 


77 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


to increase the spiritual stimulus it was meant to 
bring to the suffering Church. 

The tenth chapter describes a fresh endowment 
of prophetic inspiration which is given in view of the 
tremendous revelations that are tocome. John sees 
a strong angel descending from heaven arrayed with 
a cloud. His face shines like the sun and the light 
that streams from it on to the cloud forms a rainbow 
which encircles his head like a halo. His legs? 
are like pillars of fire and he plants one foot on the 
sea and the other on the earth. He utters a great 
cry, like the roaring of a lion and then the seven 
thunders speak. By “ the seven thunders ” another 
series of judgments, similar to those connected with 
the seven seals and the seven trumpets, seems to be 
meant, but the prophet is told that these are not to 
be recorded. ‘Then the angel swears a solemn oath 
that there shall be no more delay, but as soon as the 
seventh trumpet sounds, the divine purpose, an- 
nounced through the prophets, shall be fulfilled. 

From the first John has noticed a little book open 
in the hand of the angel. Now the angel tells him 
to take it and eat it and says that it will be sweet to 
taste but bitter to digest. He obeys and finds it 
as the angel had said. ‘Then the inspiration to 
prophesy is renewed. | 

As in the vision described in the fifth chapter so 
also in this vision the symbolism is partly determined 
by subconscious recollections of the prophecy of 
Ezekiel.? In the first case the feature due to Ezekiel 


1 Dr Charles suggests that as the Hebrew word for “‘ foot’’ may 
also mean ‘“‘leg’’, John, thinking in Hebrew, has transferred this 
meaning to the Greek word. 

2 Ezek. ii. 9-ili. 3. 


78 


RENEWED INSPIRATION AND ASSURANCE 


is the fullness of the roll which is “‘ written within 
and on the back.”’ In this case it is the command — 
to eat the book and the discovery of its sweetness to 
the taste. But though Ezekiel’s book was full of 
“lamentations and mourning and woe” he says 
nothing of its bitterness in digestion which John 
emphasizes. Ezekiel was content to dwell on the 
delight and satisfaction of receiving the message of 
God. John, too, was conscious of that, yet he also 
felt keenly the burden of having to deliver a message 
of judgment and woe. ‘“ But,” as Milton puts it, 
“‘ when God commands to take the trumpet, and 
blow a dolorous or jarring blast, it lies not in 
man’s will what he shall say, or what he shall 
eolGed ics } 

As to the specific contents of this little book there | 
is no need to ask. It is altogether arbitrary and 
unnecessary to press the symbolism of the vision so 
far as to regard this book as containing actually what 
follows, whether in the next or succeeding chapters. 
The purpose of the vision is satisfied by the sugges- 
tion of a renewed experience of inspiration. By 
his statement of the mingled emotions which the 
reception of the revelation aroused in him John 
seeks further to prepare his readers for the anguish of 
the conflict of which he has yet to speak. 

In the remainder of this interlude we have an 
instance of the use of some fragments of earlier 
apocalyptic writing in the manner already described 
in chapter seven. 

The first two verses of the eleventh chapter de- 


1 The Reason of Church-Government urged against Prelaty, Book II. 
Introduction. 
79 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


scribe the measuring of the Temple, the altar and 
the worshippers. ‘The outer court is exempted 
from the measurement and is to be given over to 
the Gentiles, together with the holy city, to be 
trodden under foot three and a half years. Evi- 
dently this prophecy originally foretold the pre- 
servation of the inner court of the Temple when 
Jerusalem should be destroyed and it must therefore 
be dated earlier than the year 70 a.p., when both 
Temple and City were destroyed by the Romans. 
John was writing twenty-five years later. Why, 
then, should this fragment, probably from some 
patriot belonging to the “ Zealot” party, emerge 
into his consciousness and be used to convey his 
message ? To trace the association of ideas which 
brought that about is impossible, but to see the 
significance of the words in their present connexion 
is not too difficult. The Temple with its altar and 
worshippers is taken as a symbol of the Christian 
Church and its security is promised in the great 
conflict with the kingdom of Antichrist, which is 
immediately to be described. ‘The measuring here 
suggests protection and preservation, just as the 
sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand 
does in the seventh chapter. 

The next eleven verses are probably also from some 
earlier Jewish apocalyptic writing, but no direct 
relation to the preceding two verses is apparent. 
For the same length of time as Jerusalem was 
occupied by the Gentiles, two witnesses are to 
prophesy, clothed in sackcloth. ‘They are identified 
with the two olive trees of Zechariah’s vision by 


which that prophet understood Zerubbabel and 
80 


RENEWED INSPIRATION AND ASSURANCE 


Joshua. Here, however, judging from the miracles 
attributed to them in the sixth verse, Elijah and 
Moses seem to have been intended, though an early 
tradition substitutes Enoch for Moses. ‘These two, 
of course, are representative of the Law and the 
Prophets and as such we recognize the significance 
of their appearance in the narrative of the Trans- 
figuration. Though their ministry is authenticated 
by miraculous signs of power they are at last over- 
come by the Beast from the abyss and their dead 
bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem. Their enemies 
rejoice over their defeat, but rejoicing is soon turned 
into consternation. ‘The witnesses are restored to 
life and summoned to heaven by a great voice while 
their enemies look on. A great earthquake follows, 
destroying one-tenth of the city and seven thou- 
sand of its inhabitants. The rest are overwhelmed 
by fear and give glory to God. 

All this is Jewish and evidently belongs to the 
period before the fall of Jerusalem. Why, then, did 
John use it in expounding his own visions ? What 
new interpretation did he place on it for his Christian 
readers ? 

As in the previous interlude, given in the seventh 
chapter, John is anticipating what he has yet to 
reveal and preparing the minds of his readers for it. 
He is about to describe his vision of Antichrist as the 
Beast from the abyss, identifying it with Rome. 
This brings into his mind the earlier prophecy in 
which Antichrist is described under the same figure 
but identified with Jerusalem, and he quotes that 
because there is something in it which corresponds 

1 Zech. iv. 


SI F 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


to his own vision of the things to come. Doubtless 
he regards that earlier prophecy as fulfilled in the 
destruction of Jerusalem. ‘The witnesses for God 
have been destroyed; their enemies have mocked 
them and rejoiced at their overthrow; but the 
faithful witnesses have been raised from the dead and 
taken up to heaven. Perhaps he thinks of Christ 
as the chief of ail the witnesses and their forerunner 
in heaven, for he adds to the original Jewish writing, 
in the eighth verse, “‘ where their Lord was cruci- 
fied.” And now as he is about to describe a greater 
manifestation of Antichrist and the sufferings and 
persecutions which faithful witnesses to Christ must 
endure, this quotation suggests just the considerations 
which will comfort the hearts of his readers. ‘They 
are witnesses for Christ to their own generation and 
their reception will not be more favourable than that 
of the two described in this passage. ‘They must ex- 
pect to be rejected, persecuted and even killed. 
But God will vindicate them. For the martyrs 
there is a glorious resurrection; for their enemies 
terrible judgment by which many will be destroyed 
and others moved to repentance. 

After this digression John resumes the drama of 
judgment at the point which he had reached 
with the end of the ninth chapter. ‘The fourteenth 
verse of the eleventh chapter makes the transition 
to the sounding of the seventh trumpet which 
introduces the triumph of the Kingdom of Christ. 
As in the case of the breaking of the seventh seal no 
judgments immediately follow, but, instead of the 
silence which succeeded in the former case, voices are 
heard chanting a song of victory. ‘The voices are 

82 


RENEWED INSPIRATION AND ASSURANCE 


probably those of the living creatures, and then the 
elders take up the strain, developing it into an 
anthem of praise which celebrates both God’s 
rewards to His servants and His judgment of His 
enemies. 

The heavenly song is ah anticipation of the divine 
triumph. In the progress of events in time the 
consuinmation is not yet reached. The seventh 
trumpet has sounded but, as in the case of the 
breaking of the seventh seal, the end of the drama 
has not come. ‘The scene is set for further action. 
The heavenly temple is opened, the ark of the cove- 
nant is seen within it and, as on Sinai of old, the pres- 
ence of God is revealed amid the awe-inspiring 
phenomena of storm and earthquake. Presently 
the third series of seven—the pouring of the seven 
bowls—will begin, but before that other visions are 
described which are of the greatest importance to 
the prophet’s message, and they may be regarded as 
the third interlude in the progress of the drama. 


83 


CHAPTER 16 
THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN AND THE CHILD 


‘““ Have we got, or shall we ever get, to more than a symbolic 
explanation of the great world drama—the conflict of Good and 
Evil? As compared with the Babylonian myth of Marduk 
and Tiamat and earlier legends, the apocalyptic view is in- 
spired by a far deeper moral and religious sense, and its true 
values are to be looked for in the depth of the human spirit 
and not in the understanding. Take it as sober phenomenal 
reality and it must prove, as it has so largely proved, an 
obstacle to intelligence and to a true comprehension and use 
of the natural order. Take it as an effort of the spiritual life 
to express itself in the imagery of a certain place and time, and 
it still serves its purpose of registering that spiritual attitude, 
of fixing a direction of the will, a character of sentiment—an 


a 9) 


entire ‘ psychosis ’.”,—-G. TYRRELL. 


Tue twelfth chapter of the Book of the Revela- 
tion brings us to one of the crucial difficulties 
in its interpretation and it will be well for us, 
as we approach it, to set clearly before our minds 
some considerations suggested in our introductory 
chapter. 

It cannot be too often repeated that this book is 
the result of a series of visions which came to a man 
of genuine mystic temperament. That does not 
rule out the inquiry as to the “ sources ” of the ideas 
and symbols which form the content of the visions. 
“The visions of the mystics,”’ says Dr Pratt, “ are 


84 


THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN AND CHILD 


determined in content by their belief, and are due 
to the dream imagination working upon the mass of 
theological material which fills the mind.”* But 
the way in which the imagination of the mystic, 
under the influence of the Spirit of God, will deal 
with the “theological material which fills the 
mind ”’ is likely to be very different from the way in 
which a literary man will deal with that same 
material filling the shelves of a library! If some of 
our scholars who have given such long and devoted 
study to discovering what the theological material 
was out of which the visions of this book were created, 
would add to their invaluable literary labours some 
study of the psychology of the mystic, they might 
find simpler solutions, in some cases at least, of the 
problems which perplex them and their readers. 
Of course we do not assume that the book was written 
in a state of ecstasy, so there is room for the use of 
ordinary literary methods. But the man who wrote 
the book was the mystic who had seen the visions 
and his purpose was not to produce a work of 
literary art, but to describe those visions to his 
readers and to help them to realize the message of 
hope and encouragement they contained for the 
days of trial and persecution through which they had 
to pass. 

We shall find no adequate solution of the problems 
this chapter presents so long as we suppose it to be a 
kind of allegory in which the writer has worked up 
some very incongruous material extracted from some 
unknown books which happened to be included in 
his library. But let us suppose the “ material” to 


1 The Religious Consciousness, Pp. 403. 


85 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


be not in his library but in his subconscious mind, 
stored there as a result of past reading or early 
Jewish training, recalled and refashioned under 
the conditions of ecstatic vision and afterwards 
remembered, not without some vagueness, as he 
sought to convey in words the truth he had per- 
ceived by his inspired imagination. In that case 
the difficulties are.reduced to their proper pro- 
portions and recognized to be the inevitable limi- 
tations which must be accepted in any attempt at 
interpretation. 

No doubt the “theological material” of this 
vision came to John through a Jewish channel, but 
in origin it was pagan. ‘There are stories in the 
mythology of Babylon, Persia, Egypt and Greece 
which bear a close resemblance to this story of the 
Dragon, the Woman and the Child. Probably they 
all go back to a primitive myth describing the 
conflict between light and darkness, order and chaos. 
Some Jewish writer took this myth, adapted it and 
spiritualized it to suggest the religious history of 
his people and their expectation of the Messiah. 
In this form John had become familiar with it at 
some time and in his vision it reappears, bearing still 
the marks of its heathen origin and Jewish adaptation, 
but with a Christian meaning superimposed upon 
it. The Woman represents the spiritual Israel 
from which the Messiah is born and of which the 
Christian Church is the later development. The 
fact that she is arrayed with the sun and has the 
moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars is a 
survival of the original form of the myth, highly 
significant there but not adding anything to John’s 

86 


THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN AND CHILD 


present conception. ‘The seven-headed Dragon with 
ten horns and seven diadems is the embodiment of 
the power of evil, Satan, the supreme antagonist of 
God and His Christ. The blood-red colour of the 
Dragon, his seven heads and his horns are all features 
traceable to the mythological origin of the con- 
ception, but the ten horns, instead of seven, which 
we should naturally expect, are probably due to the 
influence of Daniel * and the seven crowns seem to be 
an addition, perhaps suggesting that the power of 
evil is to work through kings or emperors. ‘The 
Dragon draws a third of the stars of heaven by the 
lashing of his tail and casts them to the earth. In 
the original nature myth this would be an explana- 
tion of certain astronomical: phenomena, such as 
eclipses and falling stars. In the Jewish adaptation 
of the myth it would doubtless refer to the war in 
heaven in which Satan and the angels he seduced 
from their high allegiance were cast down to the 
earth. It is this idea of Satan as the enemy of all 
good that John emphasizes, and which is further 
shown by the threat to devour the Child about to be 
born. Now the reason for the recurrence of this 
** theological material” to the mind of the prophet 
in his vision comes clearly into view. The Child 
that is born is the Christ. His destiny as ruler of 
the nations is asserted. ‘The power of evil cannot 
destroy Him. He is caught up to God and His 
throne. Nothing is said about His career on earth ; 
no mention is made even of His cross and passion ; 
there is only the allusion to His birth and ascension. 
This may be due to the Jewish form of the story as 
1 Dan. vii. 24. 


87 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


John had originally heard it, but no more is needed 
for the purpose of this vision. ‘The meaning and 
message of it centres in the Dragon’s persecution of 
the Woman. 

But at this point the main action of the vision is 
suspended, while a sort of explanatory episode is 
introduced which has already been suggested by the 
reference to the stars drawn from heaven by the 
Dragon’s tail. It does not seem difficult to realize 
the sequence of ideas when we recall the action of our 
own minds inreverie. Or if we objectify the process, 
we might illustrate it from the cinematograph 
method by which some past episode in the life of 
the characters is thrown on the screen to explain the 
action which has just been, or is just about to be, 
represented. So the reason for the Dragon’s pres- 
ence on earth, his menace to the Child and his perse- 
cution of the Woman is shown in the war in heaven 
in which Michael and his angels overthrow the 
Dragon and his angels and cast them down to the 
earth. 

Here we have a conception frequently alluded to 
in Jewish literature. In the Book of the Secrets of 
Enoch,’ God says to Enoch: ‘*‘ And one from out the 
order of angels, having turned away with the order 
that was under him, conceived an impossible thought, 
to place his throne higher than the clouds above the 
earth, that he might become equal in rank to my 
power. And I threw him out from the height with 
his angels and he was flying in the air continuously 


1 xii. 6, is not part of the vision; it is an anticipatory summary 
of xil. 13-17, which completes the vision. 
2 Assigned to the period a.D. 1-50, by Dr Charles. 
88 


THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN AND CHILD 


above the bottomless.”* In a much later book, 
called The Life of Adam and Eve, the archangel 
Michael is associated with the devil’s condemnation, 
and in some earlier Jewish form of the story, familiar 
to John, he must have figured as executing the 
divine sentence. | 

This furnished the material for the prophet’s 
vision. But the Christian prophet is not interested — 
in Michael; his thought is full of Christ. And his 
vision is not concerned only with the past. In it 
past, present and future are blended into one, and he 
hears a great voice proclaiming a victory not merely 
in heaven but on earth. It is the prophecy of the 
victory which the faithful to whom he writes will 
achieve, in the terrible persecution he anticipates, as 
a consequence of the shedding of Christ’s blood and 
by their readiness to shed theirown. So heaven may 
rejoice that the strife with evil is for ever ended 
there, but it is woe for the earth and sea where the 
fury of the devil is to rage for a short time. 

Now the “ great wrath ” of the devil is manifested 
as the main action of the vision is resumed and the 
further history of the Woman, after the Child was 
rapt to heaven, is told. She flies into the wilderness 
to escape the persecution of the Dragon, aided by two 
wings of the great eagle which are given her, and 
there she is nourished for 34 years or 1260 days 
—the usual numerical symbol for a broken period 
of time. There the Dragon seeks to destroy her 
by a river of water he casts out of his mouth, but 
the earth is her ally and swallows up the water. 
So the Dragon goes off in his rage to make war with 


1 Secrets of Enoch, xxix. 4 and 5. 


89 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


the rest of her children who keep the commandments 
of God and the testimony of Jesus. 

The eagle’s wings and the river of water are details 
which belong to the original form of the story. In 
traditional mythology we often find the eagle 
opposed to the serpent and the primeval dragon 
was frequently represented as asea monster. In the 
Jewish form of the story known to John it may be 
that there was a reference to the flight of certain 
Jews, after the fall of Jerusalem, to Jabneh, or Jewish 
Christians may have seen in it an allusion to the 
flight of some of their number to Pella. But in any 
case these details have no special significance in 
John’s vision. ‘They simply form part of a picture 
which, taken as a whole, suggests the experience the 
Church had to pass through after the ascension of 
Christ and prepares the way for the visions of the 
persecution about to overtake those for whom the 
book was intended. 

If we seek for a message for to-day in this chapter 
we must find it in the reiteration of the central 
theme of the whole book. Earthly happenings can 
‘only be understood when seen against a heavenly 
background. The facts of history are rooted in the 
unseen spiritual world. ‘The warfare with evil, so 

fierce, prolonged and bitter in our experience, is 
part of a larger conflict. Viewing the strife from 
the little corner of the great battlefield that we see, 
it often seems that the issue trembles in the balance 
and we are afraid. But if our eyes are only open to 
the supreme spiritual realities we shall recognize 
that the campaign has already been won and it only 
remains for the victory to be completed in detail on 


go 


THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN AND CHILD 


all parts of the great battlefield. ‘The machinations 
of evil on the earth are the rage of a defeated and dis- 
credited power who knows “he hath but a short 
time.” Let us remember that, and with hope and 
courage fight on till the victory won in heaven be 
realized on earth. 


oI 


CHAPTER 1r 


THE TWO BEASTS 


“Inside there is a chapel covered with frescoes by Luca 
Signorelli. . . . The main subjects are, the End of all Things, 
the Apocalyptic Woes, Resurrection, Judgment, Heaven, and 
Hell; but the remarkable feature is that this is prefaced by 
the appearance and triumphs of Antichrist. Antichrist is 
no dreadful monster, but a most grand and dignified figure, 
with just a faint suggestion of Him of whom he is the rival; 
noble in look and form till you look into the face, and then the 
wickedness discloses itself: and he is surrounded with groups 
of the same stateliness and beauty, and with a profusion of 
rich and beautiful things, but with nothing that openly sug- 
gests badness—only worldliness and its temptations, till you 
look to the background, and there, persecutions and bloodshed 
are going on.’’-—Dean CHurRcH (from a letter describing a 
visit to the Cathedral at Orvieto). 


Tue Dragon described in the twelfth chapter now 
summons to his aid two monstrous powers through 
which he will prosecute his purpose. As John 
stands in vision on the shore’ of Patmos, he gazes 
_ westward and sees a Beast coming up from the sea. 
The form of the Beast reproduces some features of 
the four beasts of Daniel’s vision.* It has ten horns 
like Daniel’s fourth beast and seven heads as Daniel’s 
four have between them. Features of the leopard, 

1 The reading of the Authorized Version is adopted here in 


preference to the Revised Version. 
2 Cf. Dan. vii. 
92 


THE TWO BEASTS 


the bear and the lion also correspond to Daniel’s 
first three beasts. But the ten diadems on the ten 
horns, the names of blasphemy upon the heads and 
the scar of the deadly wound upon one of the 
heads are elements in the description which have 
no connexion with Daniel, and therefore must 
have special and immediate significance for the 
prophet. 

Daniel’s beasts represented four great empires 
which were to be followed by the Kingdom of “* one 
like unto a son of man,” and John’s Beast is also a 
great empire—the Empire of Rome. In the seven- 
teenth chapter the seven heads signify the seven hills 
on which the city of Rome was built, and also seven 
kings, while the ten horns represent ten kings. It 
may be that this interpretation is anticipated here, 
but it is not necessary to assume that. ‘lhe Dragon 
also has seven heads and ten horns but no particular 
reference to circumsta~ces or individuals before the 
mind of the prophet seems to be suggested in that 
case. In the same way these details in the descrip- 
tion of the Beast need not at this point be regarded 
as significant. ‘The general idea the vision suggests 
is clear enough without looking forward to the later 
development of the symbolism. 

The fact that the Beast has the diadems upon 
his horns while the Dragon had them on his heads is 
not important. Probably the change is simply due 
to the need of making more visible ‘“‘ the names of 
blasphemy” which are borne by the heads. These 
unquestionably are the divine titles ascribed to the 
Roman Emperors. We have already described them 
in our second chapter and shown how the great 


oe 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


conflict with which this book is concerned arose 
directly out of the refusal of Christians to acknow- 
ledge their claim. 

The head with the death wound has been variously 
interpreted but, bearing in mind the problem of the 
number of the Beast which we shall deal with later, 
we do not hesitate to connect it with the vague 
expectations of a return of Nero which were current 
in Greece and Asia. Minor at the time John was 
writing. 

Nero died by his own hand, or that of a freedman, 
in the year 68, but so deep and vivid was the impres- 
sion that his infamous reign had made on the minds 
of men that many refused to believe he was dead. 
Edicts in his name still appeared and only a year 
after his death a plausible adventurer impersonated 
him and raised an unsuccessful rebellion against 
Rome. The legend of Nero’s survival, however, 
was not destroyed. It was asserted that he had 
taken refuge with the Parthians and would presently 
return from the East to avenge himself on his 
enemies. A second pretender appeared about the 
year 80 and a third about 88. In a section of the 
Sibylline Oracles* written about a.p. 80 the flight 
of. Nero to the Parthians is referred to and his 


1 The original Szbylline Ovacles was a collection of verses 
written in Greek, supposed to be the utterances of certain inspired 
women known as “Sibyls,’’ or prophetesses, which gained great 
influence in Rome and was consulted on occasions of special per- 
plexity as a means of supernatural enlightenment. This collection 
was destroyed in the burning of the Capitolin 82 B.c. The Sibylline 
Ovacles we now possess is a compilation made by Jewish and 
Christian writers between 160 B.c. and the fifth century a.pD., the 
original impulse of which was the desire of certain Jews to propagate 
their faith among the Gentiles, borrowing the revered authority of 
the Sibyl for this purpose. 

94 


THE TWO BEASTS 


return anticipated. ‘And then from Italy a great 
king, like a fugitive slave, shall flee unseen, unheard 
of, over the passage of the Euphrates; when he 
shall dare even the hateful pollution of a mother’s 
murder and many other things beside, venturing so 
far with wicked hand. And many for the throne of 
Rome shall dye the ground with their blood, when 
hewhas tun away beyond the Parthian) land)... 
And to the west shall come the strife of gather- 
ing war, and the exile from Rome, brandishing a 
mighty sword, crossing the Euphrates with many 
myriads.” 3 

As time wore on and Nero did not appear, it 
came to be believed that he had died but would 
return from the dead and Jewish and early Christian 
writers began to identify him with the Antichrist 
whose coming they expected. In a later section of 
the book quoted above, we see this identification 
taking place. ‘“‘ There shall come from the ends of 
the earth a matricide fleeing and devising sharp- 
edged plans in his mind. He shall ruin all the earth 
and gain all power, and surpass all men in the cunning 
of his mind. ‘That for which he perished he shall 
seize at once. And he shall destroy many men and 
great tyrants, and shall burn all men as none other 
ever did.” * In some such form as this the idea was 
known to John and when, in his vision, the Beast, 
representing the Empire, has one of his heads “ as 
though smitten unto death: and his death-stroke 
was healed,”’ we have a hint of that identification of 
Rome with the returned Nero as the Antichrist which 

1 Sibylline Oracles, Book IV., lines 1109ff. 
3 Iiid., Book V., lines 363/ff. 


95 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


will be more fully developed as the record and inter- 
pretation of the visions proceed.* 

Of course it must be clearly realized that what 
we have just been discussing is only the source of the 
ideas and conceptions which gave the form to John’s 
vision. ‘There is no need to assume that he believed 
in the return of Neroin person. It may well be that 
he recognized in Domitian the individual in whom 
the persecuting power of the Empire, once focused 
in Nero, would be revived, and that he expected his 
readers to interpret his vision in this way. The 
essential point is that the Beast from the sea signified 
the Roman Empire as the representative of the 
Dragon, the great opponent of the Church on earth 
as Satan was the protagonist: of Christ in heaven. 
In other words, the Beast is the devil’s Messiah, or 
the Antichrist. Men are overcome with astonish- 
ment as they contemplate the power of the Beast. 
They yield to his claim for divine honours and, 
worshipping him, they worship the Dragon whose 
deputy he is. Emperor-worship to the Christian 
conscience was the worship of the devil. 

To this universal worship of the Beast the only 
exceptions are the Christians—every one whose 
name has been written from the foundation of the 


world? in the Book of Life of the Lamb that hath 


1 In this connexion it may be noted that in the section of the 
Ascension of Isatah which is of Christian origin and which probably 
dates from the beginning of the second century, the Antichrist is 
announced as Beliar, who will ‘‘ descend from his firmament in the 
likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother.’’ See 
Burkitt, Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 46. 

2 It seems best to connect “from the foundation of the world” 
with ‘“ written,’’ as in xvii. 8 (cf. Eph. i. 4; Matt. xxv. 34), but it is 
possible to connect the phrase with ‘‘slain,” and the idea thus 
suggested is supported by 1 Peter i. 19 and 20. 


96 


THE TWO BEASTS 


been slain. They would, however, have to endure 
persecution and martyrdom as a result of their 
defiance. It was given to the Beast to make war 
with the saints and overcome them. Let there 
be no mistake about that, adds the prophet. “If 
any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth ; if 
any man is to be killed with the sword, with the 
sword he must be killed.”?1, No one will be able to 
escape his destiny. Yet by the whole message of 
his book he summons them to endurance. It is 
through such suffering that their patience and faith 
will be manifest. 

Now the vision proceeds and another Beast 
appears rising from the land. He has two horns like 
a lamb, but speaks like a dragon and he exercises the 
full authority of the first Beast in his presence and 
makes all the earth worship him. He does wonderful 
miracles, even making fire come down from heaven, 
and by means of these he deceives those who dwell 
on earth. Then he induces them to make an image 
of the first Beast and to that image he imparts breath 
and makes it speak. “Those who will not worship the 
image he causes to be put to death, and all who do 
worship it he has marked, on the right hand or the 
forehead, with the name or number of the Beast, and 
only they can buy or sell. 

Here we have the symbol of the local authorities 
of the Roman provinces to which all matters con- 
cerning the worship of the Emperor were relegated 
(as described in our second chapter), and which had 


1 This is the rendering found in one of the oldest MSS. and is 
probably to be preferred to that adopted in either Authorized Version 
or Revised Version (cf. Jer. xv. 2). 


97 G 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


become in effect, the imperial priesthood. It is a 
native power that is indicated, and therefore the 
second Beast rises from the land instead of from the 
sea, as the first does. In appearance this Beast is 
not so formidable as the first, but though its horns 
are the horns of a lamb, its voice is the voice of a 
dragon. It is akin to the false prophets which 
come in sheeps’ clothing, but inwardly are ravening 
wolves. ‘The apparent miracles wrought by this 
Beast need not detain us. Such things as bringing 
fire from heaven and causing images to speak were 
easy tricks for the magicians of that day and were 
part of the means by which many cults appealed to 
the crowd in a credulous and unscientific age. 

Part of the authority of the first Beast exercised 
by the second is shown in the killing of those who 
will not worship the image of the Beast, the statue of 
the deified Emperor, but another method of persecu- 
tion is also adopted. ‘This is evidently what we 
should call a form of boycott, but exactly what was 
signified by the mark of the Beast on the hand or 
forehead is not clear from such knowledge as we have 
of contemporary history. There is no need to 
assume that because the mark was actually impressed 
upon the person in the vision, that it was so in real 
life, but there may well have been some token given 
to those who fulfilled the obligation of worshipping 
the Emperor. We know that in later times of perse- 
cution certificates were given to those who fulfilled 
the regulations, and it may be that, in their zeal for 
the imperial cult, these provincial councils in Asia 
had issued something of the kind and had encouraged 
a trade boycott of all who did not qualify for these 


98 


THE TWO BEASTS 


certificates. Another suggestion is that the mark 
of the Beast referred to the seal bearing the Emperor’s 
name, which was afixed to various documents, 
including contracts and deeds of sale.t. Anyhow it is 
unquestionable that this feature of John’s vision 
refers to some effort that was being made to track 
down Christians who had as yet escaped martyrdom, 
and to make it impossible for them to secure a 
livelihood. 

At the close of the account of this vision John 
gives one detail of what he had seen and challenges 
the ingenuity of his readers to interpret it. Men 
have been accepting that challenge ever since, but 
they are still at variance on the subject! ‘The mark 
he had seen on the hand or forehead of the wor- 
shippers was the name of the Beast expressed in a 
number and that number was 666. 

In Hebrew and Greek the letters of the alphabet 
have a numerical value and so the letters composing 
any name can be added up and expressed as a 
number. The problem here then is to find the 
name, the letters of which, when regarded as 
numerals, add up to 666. Very many names will 
fit and innumerable futile guesses have been made. 
According to the methods of interpretation which 
we are applying to this book, it is obvious that the 
name required must be that of some one who was 
before the mind of the prophet and his readers. We 
have already seen reason to think that he identifies 
the Beast in some way with Nero, regarding that 
Emperor as the most characteristic exponent of the 
persecuting power of the Empire, and using the 

1 Cf. Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 241ff. 


99 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


widespread belief in his return to suggest the fresh 
incarnation of his cruel spirit in Domitian. Now 
one way of reading this number 666 gives us the 
words Neron Caesar. Moreover, if the final z of the 
Greek spelling is dropped and the Latin form of the 
word Nero is adopted we get the number 616 instead 
of 666, and that happens to be a variant reading of the 
text which is found in several ancient manuscripts 
and as such is recorded in the margin of our Revised 
Version. ‘This solution of the riddle is therefore 
strengthened by the fact that it is equally satis- 
factory for either reading of the text. 

Two other suggestions may be adopted alongside 
of the one just given. It would be in accordance 
with the symbolism of numbers, of which there are 
many examples in this book, if the thrice repeated 
six were intended to suggest a persistent falling short 
of the perfect number seven. This was a very 
early interpretation, for Irenzeus, writing less than a 
century after John, says that the six hundreds, six 
tens and six units is “‘ a summing up of the whole of 
that apostasy which has taken place during six thou- 
sand years.” * Similarly, in at least two places in 
the literature of early Christian times,” we find the 
number 888 used to represent Christ, because it 
summed up the value of the Greek letters in the 
name ‘Jesus and suggested that He surpassed perfec- 
tion. It is also possible that some old tradition of 
a sea monster had helped to shape the vision of the 


1 Irenzus, Against Heresies, Book 5, chap. xxviii. 2. 

2 Swete quotes Sibylline Ovacles, i. 328ff (a Christian section of 
the book), in his Commentary, p. 176. Peake mentions an earlier 
yeference by Marcus the Valentinian (Commeniary on the Bible, 

- 937): 

100 


THE TWO BEASTS 


prophet and that to this monster the number 666 had 
been attached. In support of this theory, it has 
been pointed out that a Hebrew phrase meaning 
*‘ primeval chaos” yields the numerical value of 
666. Either or both of these theories might explain 
the emergence of this number into the vision of the 
prophet and yet allow him to read a fresh meaning 
into it as he recognized the value of the letters of 
Nero’s name. ‘That would account for the form 
of his comment: ‘‘ He that hath understanding let 
him count the number of the Beast, for it is (at the 
same time) the number of a man.” 

Passing from the details of the vision, concerning 
which there must always be room for much variety 
of interpretation, let us dwell for a moment on the 
clear and unmistakable impression it leaves upon us 
as a whole. Through the blasphemous claim that 
worship should be offered to its Emperors, Rome has 
become the vicegerent of Satan, opposing the Church 
on earth as Satan opposed Christ in heaven. Upon 
every Christian is pressed the supreme challenge as 
to whether he will really be the servant of Christ or 
the devil. ‘The challenge meets him everywhere, for 
the implications of Emperor-worship are brought 
home to him even in the common arrangements of 
social and business life. John sees the deadly peril, 
and again and again he sets it forth for the warning 
of his fellow-Christians. ‘There is no room for 
hesitation or compromise. They must not waver 
for an instant in their allegiance to Christ. ‘Though 
persecution and martyrdom overtake them, they must 
endure to the end. 

The Empire of Rome has passed away; its 

IOI 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


politico-religious device of Emperor-worship is 
simply a matter of curious historical interest. But 
the spirit which found expression in the blasphemous 
claims of the Emperors has found other forms of 
expression since and has not yet exhausted its 
activity. Wherever a state or a church usurps the 
authority and worship which belongs only to God 
there we must recognize another manifestation of 
that monstrous power of evil which John in his vision 
saw as the Beast, and knew to be identified in his 
day with the persecuting Empire. So, as an applica- 
tion of the truth of this chapter, though not as the 
immediate interpretation of it, we may agree with 
those who find in it a reference to the Papacy of the 
Middle Ages. When the Pope asserted his claim to 
govern men’s consciences as if he were God Himself, 
when he encouraged the use of images and set up 
forms of worship which at least fostered the tendency 
to idolatry, when he used the civil power of the sword 
to enforce acceptance of his authority and tried by 
all means, political and religious, to rule individuals 
and nations, body, mind and soul, it is perfectly 
legitimate to recognize in the Papacy a manifesta- 
tion of the same evil spirit. 

But we must not look to the past alone; there 
are other ways in which this spirit appears and makes 
more subtle and insidious appeals to our own age. 
The forces of materialism and worldliness are arrayed 
against the Kingdom of Christ. Social traditions 
and customs tyrannize men and claim to overrule the 
voice of conscience and the law of God. Idols are 
set up to be worshipped and those who refuse are 
made to suffer. We can find such tendencies in 

102 


THE TWO BEASTS 


politics, in literature, in art, in commerce and even 
in church life. And, more directly analogous to the 
situation with which John was confronted, we find 
in some quarters to-day a persistent attempt to 
attribute to the State an unlimited authority over its 
members which means practically a claim to its 
deification and leaves no room for the exercise of 
individual conscience. So we still need warning 
against the worship of the Beast and encouragement 
to stand firm in the attitude of resistance and thus to 
manifest the faith and patience of the saints. 


103 


CHAPTER 12 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


** Thrice blest=is he to whom is given 
The instinct that can tell 
That God is on the field when He 
Is most invisible. 


For right is right, since God is God, 
And right the day must win ; 
To doubt would be disloyalty, 


To falter would be sin.”’ 
F. W. FABER. 


Tue long interlude which occurs between the 
sounding of the seventh trumpet and the outpouring 
of the seven bowls is concluded in the fourteenth 
chapter by a series of brief visions giving encouraging 
glimpses of the final issues of the great conflict, 
which are more fully revealed in the visions described 
in the later chapters of the book. 

First we have the vision of the Lamb and His 
followers on Mount Zion and this affords an inter- 
esting sidelight on the psychological processes which 
lay behind the mystic experiences of the prophet. 
In dealing with the first of the three interludes in 
the progress of the drama which is the central 
portion of this book, we saw how John used a frag- 
ment of some Jewish apocalypse, which had moulded 
his mystical experiences, and quoted it with such 


104 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


slight modifications that it still retained its essentially 
Jewish character. Here, in this fourteenth chapter, 
we have another vision into which apparently the 
same conceptions enter, but now they are more 
completely transformed ‘by the prophet’s Christian 
experience and his consciousness of the immediate 
situation to be faced. The old figure of a hundred 
and forty-four thousand remains as evidence of this 
Jewish connexion, but all reference to the individual 
tribes disappears and the Jewish origin of the con- 
ception is entirely forgotten. The sealing has 
already taken place and we are now told that the 
mark of the seal is the name of the Lamb and His 
Father. The great song of praise is heard too by the 
prophet, as in the former case, but now it would 
seem that the song is sung by angelic choirs, not by 
the company of the sealed,’ although they only 
among men can learnits meaning. ‘The place where 
the Lamb and His followers are seen is also changed. 
They stand now not before the throne in heaven but 
on Mount Zion, the centre of the Messianic kingdom 
and the seat of the millennial reign on earth. 

Other elements which have contributed to the 
form of this vision, besides those that went to the 
making of the vision in the seventh chapter, may 
probably be recognized with some degree of confi- 
dence. There is evidently some suggestion, by 
contrast, from the preceding visions of the Dragon 
and the Beasts. ‘The mark or name of the Beast, 
given in a number, is placed upon the right hand or 


1 Dr Charles shows that xiv. 3 should be translated ‘‘ and singing,” 
not ‘‘and they sing,’’ which makes it clear that the reference is to 
the heavenly harpers. 


105 


sedated 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


upon the forehead of his followers, so the name of the 
Lamb and of His Father is sealed upon the forehead 
of His followers. The impious song ‘‘ Who is like 
the Beast ? Who can war with him ?” is chanted 
by his followers, but an infinitely higher and holier 
strain of praise, accompanied by marvellous music 
of harps and sounding like the thunder or the waves 
breaking on the shore, rises in honour of the Lamb ; 
and even if His followers are not singing it, they alone 
from their experience of redemption are able to 
interpret it.1 ‘Then another element enters into 


- this vision, which will be more fully developed in the 


ELIA LEE DO PETIT Re SS TE 


vision of the twentieth chapter.” In contrast with 
the Beast, who is given authority for forty-two 
months over every tribe and people and tongue and 
nation, is seen the Lamb, by whom he will be over- 
come and who will reign for a thousand years, and 
those who have been the victims of the Beast share 
His triumph and authority. 

One other feature in the description of the 
hundred and forty-four thousand occasions much 
perplexity. It is said that they are celibates; the 
word translated “‘ virgins ”? is masculine and men are 
exclusively indicated by the preceding clause. Of 


1 “The song has regard to matters of trial and triumph, of deep 


_ joy and heavenly purity of heart, which none other among men but 


these pure and holy ones are capable of apprehending. The sweetest 
and most skilful harmonies convey no pleasure to, nor are they 
appreciated by, an uneducated ear : whereas the experienced musician 
finds in every chord the most exquisite enjoyment. The unskilled 
ear, even though naturally distinctive of musical sounds, could not 
learn nor reproduce them: but both these can be done by those who 
have ears to hear them. Even so, this heavenly song speaks only to 
the virgin heart, and can be learnt only by those who accompany the 
Lamb whithersoever He goeth.’”—Alford, Greek Testament, vol. iv. 
- 684. 
i 3 See p. 136. 


106 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


course it cannot be conceived that John did not 
include women in his thought of those who would 
be faithful unto death in the persecution he antici- 
pated and there is no suggestion elsewhere that even 
in the symbolism of his visions only men appeared as 
martyrs. In addition to this John nowhere else in 
the book betrays such an ascetic view on the question 
of marriage as this statement seemstoimply. Onthe 
contrary, the highest possible ideal of the marriage 
state is suggested by the imagery used in the twenty- 
first chapter. On several occasions, however, he 
uses the metaphor, so common in the prophets, 
which describes idolatry as adultery or fornication, 
and it may be that he was using this symbolism here. 
In that case, just as the purity of the martyrs in the 
vision of the seventh chapter is indicated by the 
white robes they wear in heaven, here it is directly 
affirmed under this familiar metaphor. Still it is 
difficult to take the first clause of the fourth verse 
in this metaphorical sense, even if the word trans- 
lated “* virgins ”’ be so used, and the suggestion that 
these words may be due to a marginal explanation of a 
copyist, who held ascetic views, which afterwards 
crept into the text, has much in its favour. 

The perfect purity of these followers of the 
Lamb is further emphasized by the statement that 
no lie was found in their mouth and they were with- 
out blemish. As such they were fit to be offered in 
sacrifice * to God and for this purpose they had been 
purchased from amongst men. We are reminded of 


1 That the word translated “‘ first-fruits’’ often bore the meaning 
“offering ’’ or ‘‘ sacrifice ’’ can be shown by many examples from the 
Greek version of the Old Testament and later Greek writings and 
inscriptions (Charles, Commentary, vol. ii. p. 6). 


107 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


the vision of the souls of the martyrs underneath the 
altar which John had seen at the breaking of the 
fifth seal.1. They had been offered in sacrifice but 
then the sacrifice was not complete; they had to 
wait for their fellow-servants who would be killed 
in the persecution John recognized to be at hand. 
Now his vision takes in the future; the number of 
the martyrs has been completed ; they are vindicated 
and avenged and this is shown by their following the 
Lamb in all the activities of His millennial reign, just 
as they had followed Him before even unto death. 
If we seek to penetrate behind the symbolism of 
this vision and discover in the essential truth there 
a message for to-day, we must recognize that it is a 
repetition of the great appeal of the entire book. 
We are summoned to endurance in the agelong 
conflict which passes through such varied phases. 
Whatever be the form our struggle against the 
monstrous power of evil takes, we are not free from 
the temptation to lose heart and give up. Here we 
are bidden to find encouragement in the contempla- 
tion of the ultimate triumph of Christ and in the 
assurance that those who share His toil and sacrifice 
will also be partakers in His glorious victory. We do 
not see the issue here and now; successive genera- 
tions of the faithful have their place to take and their 
part to play, and we wait for the consummation of all 
faith and patience, all endurance and sacrifice. ‘The 
centuries that have passed since John saw a vision of 
the end which he expected to arrive speedily have 
widened our horizon. But every generation of the 
faithful can comfort itself with the truth expressed 


1 Rev. vi. 9. 
108 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


in the closing words of the eleventh chapter of 
Hebrews: ‘‘ These all, having had witness borne to 
them through their faith, received not the promise, 
God having provided some better thing concerning 
us, that apart from us they should not be made 
perfect.”’ 

The next vision is of three angels flying in mid- 
heaven, who announce in turn details of the coming 
judgment which later visions will more fully describe. 
The first has “‘ an eternal gospel ” to proclaim to all 
the dwellers upon earth. It is not the gospel, for its 
contents are limited to the announcement of the 
arrival of the hour of judgment and a call to re- 
pentance in view of that fact. Yet it can be com- 
pared with the earliest proclamation of the gospel 
by our Lord * and with the preaching of St Paul at 
Lystra, in which he appealed to men to turn to “ the 
living God who made the heaven and the earth and 
the sea, and all that in them is.” ? Such a gospel 
is a direct challenge to all that was implied by 
Emperor-worship. ‘The second angel announces the 
fall of “‘ Babylon the Great,” and here the language 
is coloured by reminiscences of the prophetic utter- 
ances against the actual city of Babylon,’ which was 
the oppressor of the Jews in the darkest days of their 
earlier history, but now the name “ Babylon” is 
obviously applied to Rome, as it is throughout the 
rest of this book. The import of this brief an- 
nouncement will be fully revealed in the vision of the 
eighteenth chapter. ‘The third angel gives an awful 
description of the punishment which will fall upon 

1 Mark i. 15. 2 Acts xiv. 15. 
® Cfilsa. xxi.'9o.s Jer, lis.7/and) 8; 
109 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


every worshipper of the Beast. The lurid imagery 
which is employed owes its character to Old Testa- 
ment conceptions. ‘The origin of much of it can be 
traced back to the story of the destruction of Sodom 
and Gomorrah and something is due to the familiarity 
of the Jews with the fires which consumed their 
refuse in the Valley of Hinnom or Tophet. How 
far the prophet distinguished between the material 
symbolism and the spiritual reality it represented we 
cannot say. For us the most significant suggestion 
will be of the conscience at last awakened to the 
terrible nature of sin and consumed with undying 
remorse. 

In face of this awful picture of doom men are 
encouraged to stand firm in their endurance of 
persecution. They must keep the commandments 
of God and the faith of Jesus and so manifest the 
patience of the saints. ‘This lesson is further en- 
forced by a voice John heard from heaven assuring 
him of the blessedness of those who henceforth 
should die in the Lord. We apply the words quite 
generally and say : 

** For he who dies believing 
Dies safely through Thy love.” 
The application is fully justified, but when we are 
reading this book it must not be allowed to obscure 
the fact that the primary reference of the words was 
to the martyrs who should succumb in the persecu- 
tion of the Church by the Empire. The special 
significance of this promise is that which we have 
already seen to be implied in the vision of the Lamb 
and His followers on Mount Zion. ‘The prophet 
regards the impending persecution as marking the 
IIo 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


end of the age. By it the number of the martyrs 
will be completed and therefore those who die then 
will not have to wait for the consummation, like the 
souls beneath the altar in the vision described in the 
sixth chapter, but will immediately enter into their 
blessedness. Of course such conceptions as these 
belong to that view of the future life which regards 
it as still conditioned by time, and no other view © 
was possible to New Testament writers. The idea 
of time as a condition of earthly life only and of 
another state of existence for which time has no 
meaning, belongs to a purely modern philosophy. 

The third vision described in this chapter is a 
picture of the Last Judgment, of which this book 
contains so many anticipations. It does not close 
the series of visions but that is no hindrance to our 
interpretation of it when we have realized that 
chronological sequence is not to be looked for in this 
book and that John has the true preacher’s instinct 
for reiteration as a sure means of impressing the mind 
and conscience of his hearers or readers. In this 
case the Judgment is shown as the harvest and 
vintage of the earth. That the prophet’s vision 
took this form was doubtless owing to some sub- 
conscious memory of the imagery of Joel : 

‘“‘ Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ; 


Come, tread ye, for the winepress is full, 
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.’’ 2 


Here the double figure of judgment, the reaping of 
the corn and the treading of the grapes, is simply an 


1 St Augustine anticipated this idea in his profound reflections on 
the absence of all conditions of time from the life of God (Confessions, 
Book xi.). 

2 Joel wi, 13. 


III 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


example of the parallelism which is one of the dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of Hebrew poetry. In 
John’s vision the double figure has been developed 
into two separate actions and some expositors see 
in the first a reference to the gathering of the saints 
and in the second to the destruction of the wicked. 
Probably such a distinction is not intended; both 
parts of the vision represent the judgment of the 
wicked, as both figures of speech do in the prophecy 
of Joel. The terrible picture of the river of blood 
makes it evident that it is the punitive or destructive 
aspect of judgment which is emphasized. We are 
reminded of the description of Jehovah’s return from 
His triumph over Edom,} but John’s vision probably 
owed something to the Book of Enoch’s description 
of sinners’ destruction of each other in the last 
days : 
‘From dawn till sunset they shall slay one another 
And the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of 


sinners, 
And the chariot shall be submerged to its height.” 2 


The consideration of the agents of judgment in 
this twofold vision brings us some perplexity. In 
the second part it is an angel who comes out of the 
temple in heaven, bearing a sharp sickle, and who 
gathers the vintage after receiving the divine com- 
mand from another angel. In the first part the 
bearer of the sickle is described as one “‘ like unto a 
son of man ” wearing a golden crown and sitting ona 
cloud. But he also casts his sickle upon the earth 
and reaps it at the command which is announced in 


1 Isa. Ixiii. 1-6; cf. Rev. xix. 13 and 15. 
2 Enoch c, 2 and 3: 


I1Iz2 


ANTICIPATIONS OF THE END 


the great voice of “ another angel ” from the temple. » 
Who is this one “like unto a son of man”? Re- 
membering the use of the same phrase in the first 
chapter we naturally assume him to be Christ. But 
if so, it is strange that he should receive the divine 
command through an angel and still stranger that 
another angel should share with him the work of 
judgment. We cannot find relief from the difficulty 
by saying that Christ comes first to gather in the 
saints and an angel follows to destroy the wicked. 
In a later vision of the book it is Christ who treads 
the winepress of the wrath of God.1 It seems 
simpler and better to take the “ one like unto a son 
of man,” in this case, to be an angel. ‘There is very 
little in this figure of the splendour we find else- 
where in John’s descriptions of his visions of Christ, 
and the fact that in this vision the agents of judg- 
ment are angels, while in later visions it is shown that 
judgment is in the hands of Christ, is quite in accord 
with the methods of this book.’ 

The long pause in the drama of the Seals, 
Trumpets and Bowls is now at an end. John and 
his readers have been fully prepared for the revela- 
tion that has yet to be given. Indeed that revelation 
has been anticipated by pregnant hints and brief 
glimpses. The darkness and terror which is to 
come will not overwhelm them. They shall not 
be afraid of evil tidings for by these visions their 
hearts have been fixed, trusting in the Lord. 


1 Rev. xix. 15. 

2 Dr Charles solves this problem, as he does many others, by the 
theory of interpolation. Thus he removes verses 15-17 and the 
words ‘‘the angel’’ in verse 19; the reference to Christ in verse 14 
is then easily maintained. 


113 | H 


CHAPTER 13 


THE OUTPOURING OF THE BOWLS 


% 


** God’s own profound 
Was above me, and round me the mountains, 
And under, the sea, 
And within me my heart to bear witness 
What was and shall be.”’ 


R. BROWNING. 


AFTER announcing the subject of his fresh vision, in 
the opening verse of the fifteenth chapter, John 
delays the description of it while he gives an account 
of another scene which appeared before his inward 
eye and records another of those glorious outbursts 
of heavenly music which are so frequently associated 
with his visions. 

Perhaps this particular vision came to him as he 
gazed across the waters of the Aigean one evening and 
saw the reflection of the setting sun in their calm 
surface. In his mystic state he seemed to be stand- 
ing by a sea of glass mingled with fire, on the shores 
of which a company of joyful singers had gathered. 
There was some connexion in his subconscious mind 
between them and the hosts of Israel singing their 
song of triumph by the Red Sea after their escape 
from Pharaoh. ‘They also had passed through a sea 
of trouble ; they had escaped from the clutches of a 


114 


THE OUTPOURING OF THE BOWLS 


more terrible despotism than Pharaoh’s, for they had 
been victorious over the Beast and all his instruments 
and agencies. So the song they sang had the note 
of triumph which characterized the song of Moses,’ 
but it also had the higher and still more jubilant 
note of those who had conquered through the blood 
of the Lamb.? That reference had been vividly 
impressed on John’s mind, but perhaps the words in 
which it had been made had escaped him, for the 
fragment he quotes is almost entirely made up of 
Old Testament phrases and does not specifically 
praise the Lamb. It glorifies God for His marvellous 
works and righteous ways which have been mani- 
fested to allmen. John felt that this vision made a 
fitting prelude to the vision he was now constrained 
to describe. The music of that song would nerve 
the hearts of the faithful as they were called to con- 
template the appalling details of the third series of 
seven judgments. 

With this vision of the Bowls we are carried back 
to the scene which came into view at the sounding 
of the seventh trumpet.* From the open temple of 
heaven seven angels came forth arrayed in linen,’ 
white and dazzling, and girdled with golden belts. 
To them are given, by one of the four living creatures, 
seven golden bowls—vessels broad and shallow in 
shape so that all their contents can be poured out 
suddenly. Similar vessels were ordinarily used for 


1 Exod. xv. 2 Rev. v. 12-14. Hi RCSV Ky LO. 

4 The rendering ‘‘stone’’ adopted in the Revised Version is im- 
possible and the Revisers have been obliged to insert the adjective 
“ precious’’ to make any sense of it. It is true that the oldest MSS. 
support this rendering but it is due either to a copyist’s misreading 
of a single letter in the Greek word, or to a mistranslation into Greek 
of a Hebrew word. 

II5 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


offering incense? in the Temple, or for pouring out 
libations of wine. But these bowls contain no offer- 
ing for God; they are filled with the wine of His 
wrath—the plagues with which the earth is swiftly 
to be drenched. ‘Then the prophet sees the temple 
fill with smoke, as Isaiah had-done when the vision 
of the divine holiness came to him.’ It is not the 
smoke of acceptable incense with which devout 
worshippers are familiar. It is “ from the glory of 
God and from His power.” It is the visible symbol 
of the holiness of God in conflict with the sin of man, 
the sign of the existence of a smouldering fire of 
righteous indignation which is about to blaze up 
in deeds of judgment upon mankind. Until the 
judgment is executed no one can enter the temple 
in which the divine glory and power are thus mani- 
tested ; God is a consuming fire. 

The command is given, in a great voice coming 
from the temple, to pour out the bowls, and the 
seven angels in turn perform their dreadful task of 
destruction. Grievous sores break out upon men; 
the waters of the world are turned into blood; men 
are scorched by terrific heat; great darkness falls 
upon the earth and anguish causes the sufferers to 
gnaw their tongues and blaspheme God; the river 
Euphrates is dried up and the way prepared for an 
armed invasion from the East ; the kings of the world 
assemble for war; and finally there are lightnings 
and voices and thunders, and a great earthquake 
which splits Rome into three parts, destroys cities 
of other nations, removes islands and mountains 
from their places, and is followed by a terrible 

1 Cf. Rev. v. 8. 2 Isa. vi. 
116 


THE OUTPOURING OF THE BOWLS 


storm of hail in which every stone is of phenomenal 
weight. 

A close similarity will at once be recognized 
between these plagues and the woes announced by 
the sounding of the seven trumpets. There are, 
however, some differences which are significant 
because they arise from the distinctive aspect of 
judgment which the vision of the bowls expresses. 
This distinctive aspect of judgment is that which it 
bears towards the Roman Empire as the punishment 
of her Czsar-worship and persecution of the Chris- 
tians. The Empire is referred to throughout this 
series of judgments. The first plague falls upon 
“the men which had the mark of the beast and 
worshipped his image”; the fifth mentions the 
throne and the kingdom of the Beast; the sixth 
brings in again the Dragon, the Beast and the False 
Prophet (the second Beast) and three unclean 
spirits which proceed from their mouths; the 
beveurn (refers tLOuNOme) as), the creat city’? and 
“Babylon the great.” In the second and third 
plagues the significant comment of “the angel of 
the waters ” shows that this punishment is regarded 
as peculiarly appropriate to the crime of Rome. She 
had poured out the blood of the martyrs like water 
and now she can find nothing but blood to drink. 

The difference between the woe announced by 
the sixth trumpet and the plague which followed the 
pouring of the sixth bowl calls for a little fuller com- 
ment. In the former case, monstrous horses and 
horsemen appeared, and we saw that, while they may 
have been suggested by the prevalent fear of the 
Parthian cavalry, they were not human warriors at 


117 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


all but infernal demons. In this case, however, 
the Parthians themselves are clearly in view. The 
river Euphrates, the great natural barrier between 
East and West, is dried up, giving a clear road for 
the kings from the East. Rome is not behind in 
calling to her aid all her allies. In his vision, John 
sees three unclean spirits in the form of frogs coming 
from the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the 
False Prophet. ‘These lying spirits stir up the kings 
of the world and the lust for war takes possession of 
men. ‘The war for which they gather together 
John believes to be the decisive conflict of God the 
Almighty with the Empire and its characteristic 
institution of Caesar-worship. ‘The scene of the 
conflict is identified with the great historic battle- 
field of Israel which was the plain of Megiddo. 
There Barak and Deborah had overcome Sisera’* 
and there King Josiah had fallen in battle with the 
Egyptians.* John, however, speaks not of the plain, 
but of the Mountain of Megiddo, for that is the 
meaning of Har-Magedon. ‘There were hills in the 
vicinity of Megiddo which may have been known by 
the same name, and probably in his visionary state 
he was influenced by the prophetic tradition which 
regarded ‘‘ the mountains of Israel’ as the scene of 
_ the final conflict so often anticipated.® 

During this description of the world-war to come 
there is a very impressive interruption in which 
Christians are warned of the imminence of the great 
day and exhorted to watchfulness. It is quite in 


1 Judges iv. 15; v. 19. 
2 2 Kings xxiii. 29ff; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22. 
8 Cf. Ezek. xxxix. 2, 4. 


118 


THE OUTPOURING OF THE BOWLS 


the style of some of the warnings found in the 
messages to the seven churches. Indeed it is so 
like those given to the church at Sardis that Dr 
Charles, following an earlier German commentator, 
believes it to have been torn from its context, and 
restores it to what he thinks its rightful place in the 
middle of the third verse of the third chapter. But 
to remove it to that position involves some repetition 
of the thought there. It may have been inserted 
at this point by some early copyist, but in any case 
it is quite fitting that a solemn reminder should be 
given here of the perils of carelessness and sloth. 
The imagery suggests one who may be surprised by 
sudden attack and therefore must not put off his 
garments to sleep lest he have to flee undressed. 
Such a warning is obviously pertinent wherever 
there is any danger of battle either in the material 
or the spiritual sense. 

Apart from this warning, there is nothing in the 
account of the vision of the outpouring of the bowls 
to suggest that Christians have any share in these 
calamities. It may be that they are regarded as 
already removed from the earth by martyrdom and 
singing their song of triumph by the glassy sea. But 
we must not press any argument from what we sup- 
pose to be the requirements of a logical consistency 
in this book. It is enough to recognize that the 
special aspect in which this series of plagues is re- 
garded is not that of discipline or trial for Christians, 
but that of punishment for their oppressors and 
persecutors. 

It is vain to look for any exact fulfilment of the 
anticipations of this vision in history. Here, as 


11g 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


elsewhere, we must remember that what John is 
writing is prophecy, and prophecy is not history 
written beforehand. ‘The prophet’s distinguishing 
characteristic is not foresight but insight. He looks 
behind the appearance of things to the spiritual 
realities and he announces the things that he sees in 
the most vivid and arresting ways known to him. 
This does involve prediction as to the future yet the 
vindication of the truth of his message does not lie in 
the exact correspondence of event with prediction 
but in the true apprehension of eternal principles 
which apply to all the changing circumstances and 
conditions which have to be faced. The eternal 
truth expressed by the vivid imagery of these visions 
is that of the inevitable judgment of God upon sin. 
Some of the appalling descriptions of the manifesta- 
tions of the wrath of God which John gives, and the 
spirit of exultation with which he seems to regard the 
fate of the enemies of the Church, savour more of 
the spirit of the Old Testament than of the New. 
The mind that is imbued with the idea of the love of 
Christ is repelled by them. But we must remember 
that John was living in a world which had not yet 
realized all the implications of that love and he knew 
no other way to express a conviction of the inflexible 
demands of righteousness than by picturing the 
- extreme severity of punishment which must fall upon 
those who rejected those demands. It must at 
least be allowed to him that his descriptions of the 
punishment of the wicked do not go to such ex- 
tremes as may be frequently found in that apocalyptic 
literature which had so largely influenced his thought. 
And it must be remembered that men who have stood 
120 


THE OUTPOURING OF THE BOWLS 


firm in obedience to the demands of religion and 
conscience in times of terrible persecution have 
always found their own faith and courage to be 
inseparable from the sternest views of the evil of 
their oppressors and the doom which that evil 
incurs. 


Ia! 


CHAPTER 14 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


** An exile on Patmos, he sees a despised Church, poor within 
and menaced from without; and he sees this spectacle of 
triumph. Heisadreamer. No, he is practical; his bookisa 
challenge to the Christian Church, a call to faith, to courage, 
to endurance—to martyrdom. ... Set your teeth, he cries, 
the worst is coming, and the best ; you will be put to death, but 
you will live and reign with Christ for ever and ever; and with 
you all the people you had to save and did not save, all you 
longed for and despaired of, will be Christ’s ; Alleluia, Babylon 
is fallen.”—-Dr T. R. GLOVER. 


Tue fall of “ Babylon” has already been twice 
announced * to the prophet in his visions and we have 
anticipated the interpretation of the name, of such 
sinister import in Jewish history, as a symbol for 
Rome, the capital of the Empire with which Christ 
and His Church were at war. ‘This interpretation, 
however, has not been clearly and definitely made in 
the visions up to the point we have reached. Now 
follows a vision wholly concerned with the prediction 
of this event which for those persecuted Christians 
must have been the central and supremely significant 
incident in the great drama of judgment. And in » 
the vision there is included such a full and detailed 
angelic interpretation as makes the reference to the 
city of Rome perfectly explicit. 


1 Rev. xiv. 8 and xvi. 19. 
Lez 


JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


One of the angels who had the seven bowls 
promises to show the prophet the judgment of “ the 
great harlot that sitteth upon many waters.” The 
latter phrase is clearly a reminiscence of the descrip- 
tion of Babylon in Jeremiah, but the shameful 
epithet “ harlot ” owes its origin to Old Testament 
descriptions, not of Babylon but of Tyre? and 
Nineveh.* In the case of those cities it referred to 
the intercourse they had with foreign nations which 
was productive of both moral and religious evil and 
as applied to Rome under the name of “* Babylon ” 
it has the same significance. Rome is the mistress 
of the nations in a double sense. By her lust for 
conquest she has drawn them into intercourse with 
herself and corrupted them with her vices, making 
them “ drunken with the wine of her fornication.” * 

Then, in his ecstasy, John is carried to a wilder- 
ness where he is shown the woman. Her appearance 
suggests the ostentatious magnificence of the city, 
for she is arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with 
precious jewels and holds in her hand a golden cup 
full of the abominations with which she has in- 
toxicated the nations. She herself is drunken with 
the blood of saints and martyrs—those whom she 
could not seduce to the spiritual adultery of 
Emperor-worship. Like the prostitutes of the city 
she represents, she wears upon her forehead a band 
bearing her name. That name is a “ mystery,” 
that is to say it is one which has a symbolical meaning. 
And the name is “ Babylon the Great, the Mother 
of the Harlots and of the Abomtinations of the Earth.” 


tejer, li. 13, 2 Isa. xxiil. 17. 
3 Nahum iii. 4. S Rev. Xvil, 2 ch. Jer) li. 9: 
123 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


Here, then, we have the city of Rome under a 
two-fold symbol—the Great Harlot and Babylon 
the Great. When John heard of her as Babylon she 
was seated on many waters. Now that he sees her 
in the shape of a woman she is seated upon a scarlet 
coloured beast. ‘That change was, of course, neces- 
sary to the development of the vision. A city may 
be seated on many waters but not when it is seen 
symbolized as a woman! In that case the waters 
must also be symbolized. And perhaps there was 
some link in the prophet’s subconscious mind be- 
tween the Beast he had seen in a previous vision and 
an ancient mythological dragon of the waters which 
made the transition easy from the thought of Babylon 
seated on many waters to the conception of her as 
seated on the Beast he had seen coming from the 
sea. But the picture of ancient Babylon is already 
fading from his mind, like a dissolving view, and its 
place is being taken by the new city, which is Rome, 
seated not on many waters but on seven hills. So 
the seven heads of the Beast are interpreted primarily 
as representing these hills and the many waters on 
which ancient Babylon was built have no more 
place in the prophet’s vision. Failing to recognize 
this, some early copyist seems to have added a 
marginal note explaining the many waters as 
*‘ peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues,” 
and this note soon became incorporated with the 
text, thus introducing an unnecessary complication 
to the interpretation. 

As the angel’s explanation of the meaning of the 
vision proceeds, the significance of the identity of 
this Beast with that of the former vision becomes 

124 


JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


clear. The Beast symbolizes the Empire, and its 
seven heads having served to suggest the seven hills 
on which the city is built, geographical facts fall out 
of view and political facts come into the foreground. 
The seven heads now represent seven kings or 
emperors and, as the angel of the vision puts it: 
Here is the opportunity of the discerning mind! It 
may have been easier for the discerning mind in John’s 
day to read the riddle than it is to-day, but we, at any 
rate, can hardly be certain as to its precise solution. 

It must be remembered that the heads and horns 
of the Beast belong to the original conception of the 
uncouth monster which suggested the form of 
John’s vision. Their number was not determined 
by the historical facts which were to be symbolized ; 
those facts had to be selected to accord with the 
number. Having granted that the heads represent 
emperors, the particular seven to be chosen depends 
upon the point at which the series begins and upon 
whether all successive emperors are reckoned in it 
or not. Full discussion of this question would not 
be in place here, but the most likely suggestion seems 
to be that the series begins with Augustus, Julius 
Cesar not being regarded as ‘“‘ Emperor” in the 
full sense of the word. ‘Then, if three names are 
omitted of emperors who reigned for such very brief 
periods that it is not likely that they gained recogni- 
tion in the East, the following six would be Tiberius, 
Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian and Titus. 

The great difficulty of interpretation arises in 
connexion with the tenth verse of the chapter. 
Speaking of these seven kings, the angel says: “ Five 
are fallen ; the one is, the other is not yet come ; and 

125 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


when he cometh he must continue a little while.” 
According to the list given above this dates the 
vision from the reign of Vespasian. But, as the 
present exposition shows throughout, the general 
trend of evidence points to the Book of the Revelation 
as having been written in the time of Domitian, who 
succeeded Titus, and should accordingly be the 
eighth emperor referred to in the following verse. 
Two suggestions may be made in relief of this 
difficulty. One is that we have here an instance of a 
convention, common in apocalyptic literature, by 
which an earlier standpoint is assumed in order to 
veil the statement of contemporaneous events and 
conditions under the guise of prediction. ‘Thus the 
actual fact of the brevity of the reign of Titus would 
appear to have been foretold. The alternative is 
that an earlier vision, either of John himself or of 
some one else, was one of the elements that entered 
into this vision or confused the remembrance and 
description of it. Apart from some such explanation, 
the whole vision must be regarded as a rather clumsy 
piece of literary patchwork—a theory which raises 
far more difficulties than it solves and is entirely 
inconsistent with the fundamental principles upon 
which the present exposition of the Book of the 
Revelation is based. 

But the difficulty we have been considering need 
not leave us in any doubt as to the meaning of this 
vision. In a previous chapter we have seen how 
closely John identified the Beast with Nero, re- 
garding him as the embodiment of the persecuting 
power of the Empire, seeing in the widespread belief 
in his return a suggestion of a fresh incarnation of 

126 | 


JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


his cruel: spirit in Domitian, and reading into the 
mysterious number of the Beast the letters of his 
name. Now in this vision the same identification of 
the Beast with Nero is found in the eighth verse of 
the chapter where he is described as one who “‘ was 
and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss 
and to go into perdition.” Then, in the eleventh 
verse, after the seven heads have been interpreted 
as seven emperors, the Beast himself is said to be an 
eighth and yet “ one of the seven.” What can this 
cryptic utterance mean except that the eighth 
emperor, Domitian, is regarded as Nero come to life 
again? hen the ten horns fall into their place in 
the symbolism as representing the Parthian rulers, 
“the kings from the sunrising”’ of the previous 
vision, whom Nero was expected to bring with him 
on his return. With their aid he would accomplish 
his cruel will, not only against the Christians but also 
against Rome, causing her to suffer even more 
terribly than she had done in the great fire of the 
year 64, which it was believed Nero himself had 
instigated. Yet the Beast and his allies would not 
prevail against the Lamb and His followers. Their 
policy and purpose would be controlled by the will 
of God and their fury against the city which was 
the capital of the Empire would be the execution of 
the judgment of the Lamb, who is the Lord of lords 
and King of kings. 

Of course all this seems bewilderingly illogical 
if it is considered as the result of a literary effort to 
set forth certain ideas under the similitude of a 
vision. But when it is regarded as the description of 
a genuine visionary experience it is easy to recognize 

127 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


in it those sudden and apparently inconsequent 
changes of forms and symbols which are character- 
istic even of normal dreams and in which our modern 
psycho-analysts find so much significance. It is 
difficult to believe that an early Christian writer, 
using the form of vision merely as a literary device, 
through his very lack of skill in dealing with his 
material, could have hit upon so correct a reproduc- 
tion of the psychological conditions of visionary 
experience ! 

When John has heard the angel’s explanation of 
the vision of the Woman and the Beast, another 
angel appears to him, coming down from heaven, one 
of great authority, the glory of whose presence 
irradiates the earth. With a mighty voice he again 
announces the fall of Babylon, and tells how her 
ruins have become the habitation of demons and 
unclean birds. The tale of woe is taken up by still 
another voice from heaven which first summons the 
people of God to come out of the city, so that they 
may escape her sins and her punishment, and then 
passes on to chant a great and solemn dirge over her. 
In language which is full of echoes of the doom songs 
of Old Testament prophets for Babylon, Tyre and 
Edom," he vividly portrays the ruin which will over- 
take the city. She saysin her heart: “I sit a queen 
and am no widow and shall in nowise see mourning.” 
But suddenly her plagues will come upon her—death 
and mourning and famine and burning with fire. 
Then the greatness of the catastrophe which will 
overwhelm her is suggested by a description of the 

1 Cf. Isa. xiii. and xiv., xxxiv., xlvii.; Jer. 1. and li.; Ezek. 
XXV1.-XXVII1. 


128 


JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


dismay of those who have ministered to her luxury 
and shared in her vice. ‘They will stand afar off 
for fear of being swallowed up in her ruin and, while 
they gaze at the smoke of her burning, they will 
weep and lament for the woe that has overtaken the 
great and strong city. The merchants will mourn 
the loss of their trade; the sailors and shipowners 
will mourn the loss of their freights; but saints, 
apostles and prophets will rejoice because God’s 
judgment is manifested. 

At this point the doom song is interrupted by 
the action of another angel in the vision who takes up 
a great stone and casts it into the sea as a symbol of 
the complete destruction and final disappearance of 
the city. And then the dirge is resumed to describe 
the silent and deserted ruins. No sound of music 
is heard, no noise of the craftsmen at their work, no 
sound of the grinding of the mill; no light of lamp 
is seen and no wedding procession passing along the 
street. All is silence and desolation such as one may 
find to-day as one treads the echoing streets of long- 
buried Pompeii. And the vision ends with the re- 
iteration of the truth that this awful fate was due to 
the fact that the city had become the centre of 
persecution and was responsible for all the blood of 
the martyrs that had been shed upon the earth. 

The city of Rome has never suffered such destruc- 
tion as this vision describes,’ but nevertheless the 


1 The imperial city did, of course, finally fall into ruin, and itis 
interesting to read in connexion with Rev. xviii. an extract trom an 
Italian named Poggius, who wrote On the Vicissitudes of Fortune, 
in the year 1430, which is quoted by Gibbon in the last chapter of 
his Decline and Fall and describes the prospect of the ruins as he 
viewed them from the hill of the Capitol. 


T29 I 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


essential truth of the prophecy of judgment upon the 
city as capital of the Empire has been fulfilled. 
Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Empire may be regarded as a commentary on this 
text. In the slow decay of moral and political 
power, followed by the inrush of barbarian races, 
the break-up of the huge Empire and the capture and 
sack of the city by Alaric the Goth, we may recognize 
history’s vindication of the truth suggested by the 
vision of the inspired prophet. 

But the fulfilment of this prophecy is not to be 
looked for only in those events. It is to be seen also 
in the issue of the conflict between the two religions 
which were contesting the world—the worship of 
the Emperor and the worship of Christ. Emperor- 
worship has long ago been cast into the limbo of 
rejected and outworn superstitions but the name of 
Christ means more and more to the world and 
His Kingdom still grows and spreads. And here we 
approach the permanent significance of the prophecy 
—the message it has for to-day and for all time.. We 
learn the victorious might of divine righteousness 
when it comes into collision with evil and wickedness. 
Particularly do we see the power of that righteous- 
ness over those forms of evil which arm themselves 
with political weapons and material resources and 
tyrannize the lives and destinies of men. Babylon 
has not passed away with the Roman Empire. As 
Sir George Adam Smith has put it: “ Babylon 
never dies. ‘To the conscience of Christ’s seer, this 
mother of harlots, though dead and desert in the 
East, came to life again in the West. ... Rome 
was Babylon, in so far as Romans were filled with 

130 


JUDGMENT OF THE SCARLET WOMAN 


cruelty, with arrogance, with trust in riches, with 
credulity in divination, with that waste of mental 
and moral power which Juvenal exposed in her... . 
But we are not to leave the matter even here: we 
are to use that freedom with John which John uses 
with our prophet (Isaiah). We are to pass by the 
particular fulfilment of his words in which he and 
his day were interested, because it can only have a 
historical and secondary interest to us in face of other 
Babylons in our own day, with which our consciences 
if they are quick, ought to be busy.” ! 

Dr Smith goes on to refer to the way the reference 
of this prophecy is often confined to the Church of 
Rome but, allowing for the fact that many of the 
features of the Roman Empire may be traced in the 
Papacy and one application of the prophecy be made 
in that direction (as we have shown in our eleventh 
chapter) he points out that there are other incarna- 
tions of the Babylonian spirit which are a much 
greater peril to us than the Church of Rome can 
ever be. 

So do not let us be misled by the idea that the 
only fresh incarnation we have to fear of the Scarlet 
Woman is in Romanism. Wherever we find the 
spirit of atheism, materialism and worldliness lifting 
its head, there we may recognize the Scarlet Woman ! 
Wherever we find a community that thinks more of 
its wealth than of the welfare of its people ; wherever 
we find one that refuses to set right manifest wrongs 
for fear of offending powerful interests, putting 
safety before justice, allowing its politics to be 
determined by its trade or its morality by its need 


1 Isaiah, Vol. II. pp. 199-200. 
I3I 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


of revenue; wherever we find one dominated by 
militarism, burning with the lust of hate and 
revenge—there we may see Babylon rebuilt and 
symbolize her as the Scarlet Woman, the Mother of 
the Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth. 

But while we think of communities—churches 
and nations, states and societies—we must remember 
our personal obligations also. Our hearts must be 
kept free from thé infection of Babylon—her pride 
and arrogance, her hardness and cruelty, her love of 
gain and pleasure, her indifference to God and 
worship of self. ‘There is still a personal application 
for us to make of the words John heard spoken from 
heaven: “‘ Come forth, my people, out of her, that 
ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye 
receive not of her plagues.” 


132 


CHAPTER 15 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEASTS AND THE DRAGON 
AND THE LAST JUDGMENT 


** Oh how comely it is and how reviving 
To the Spirits of just men long opprest ! 
When God into the hands of their deliverer 
Puts invincible might 
To quell the mighty of the Earth, th’ oppressor, 
The brute and boist’rous force of violent men 
Hardy and industrious to support 
Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue 
The righteous and all such as honour Truth ; 
He all their Ammunition 
And feats of War defeats 
With plain Heroic magnitude of mind 
And celestial vigour arm’d, 
Their Armouries and Magazines contemns, 
Renders them useless, while ~ 
With winged expedition 
Swift as the lightning glance he executes 
His errand on the wicked, who surpris’d 
Lose their defence distracted and amaz’d.”’ 
MILTON. 


iieegdirct ten verses, ofthe nineteenth) chapter 
form a link between the vision that has just been 
described and those yet to come. As on previous 
occasions, there is given to the prophet a glimpse of 
the attitude of heaven towards happenings on earth. 
Though the overthrow of the harlot-city has only 
been predicted as something to take place in the 


133 


VISIONS OF HOrnt AND FERKAK 


near future, from the heavenly point of view it is 
already accomplished and great rejoicings take place 
over the true and righteous judgments of God. A 
chorus of hallelujahs rises from all the dwellers in 
heaven and the four-and-twenty elders and the four 
living creatures are seen again prostrating themselves 
before the throne. ‘Then a voice sounds from the 
throne summoning all the servants of God, small and 
great, to praise Him. And like the voice of many 
waters and mighty thunders the great song rises: 
‘“‘ Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the Almighty, 
reigneth.” 

As the song proceeds a new element is introduced 
and the great conception which will be developed in 
the closing chapters of the book is first suggested. 
The marriage of the Lamb is anticipated. Instead of 
the harlot the Bride is pictured. Instead of the 
purple and scarlet robes, suggesting the ostentatious 
pomp and pride of Rome, is the fine linen, bright and 
pure, which is interpreted as “ the righteous acts of 
the saints.” By a confusion which is natural enough 
to the symbolism of the vision, the saints who form 
the Church which is the Bride are also the guests 
at the marriage supper and the blessedness of their 
lot from that point of view is expressed. ‘Then the 
prophet falls at the feet of the angel who speaks with 
him in the vision but he is rebuked for offering to a 
creature and a fellow-servant the worship that is due 
to God alone. ‘Though he is an angel, his message 
is dependent upon the witness, or self-revelation, of 
Jesus just as that of the prophet is. 

Though the subject of the marriage of the Lamb 
has been introduced it is not proceeded with at this 


134 


THE JULVGMENT OF THE BEASTS 


point. In the fashion so characteristic of these 
visions there is a return to an earlier cycle of ideas. 
Some repetition and confusion of thought arises in 
this way and many scholars have explained it on the 
hypothesis that we have here not the work of the 
prophet himself but a collection of fragments of 
earlier apocalypses which have been unskilfully 
pieced together by some editor. Dr Charles claims 
that all the material comes from John himself but 
thinks that he died before finishing his work and that 
the confusion is due to a disciple who did not under- 
stand the material John had left and altogether dis- 
arranged it when he completed and issued the book. 
The present writer has already sufficiently indicated 
his dissatisfaction with the view on which this 
theory is based but would like to restate his position in 
the words of another student of the subject : 

“It is not an evidence of an interfering and 
stupid editor, it is only what psychology leads us to 
expect, if we find that ‘ visions ’ more or less ‘ inter- 
fere ’ with one another ; that, in place of that steady 
development of theme which Charles desiderates, 
there should be a series of flashes playing alternately 
on this and that topic; that a new and great thought 
should be obtruding itself before its predecessor had 
been fully grasped, and that then there should be a 
re-emergence of the former. What, from a purely 
literary or logical standpoint may appear something 
of a hotchpotch, may perfectly well be psychologic- 
ally a true representation of the process of ‘ visions ’.””? 


The thought to which the prophet harks back, after 


1 Rev. W. D. Niven, M.A., in Expository Times, Vol. XXXIII. 
P. 422. 
136 


VISIONS OF HGPE AND FEAR 


mentioning the marriage of the Lamb, is that of the 
judgment which has been described in general terms 
in the vision of the outpouring of the bowls and in 
more detail as it affects the city of Rome in the vision 
of the judgment of the Scarlet Woman. Now the 
visions go on to deal with the judgment of the Beast, 
the False Prophet (the second Beast) and the 
Dragon who is Satan. 

The heaven opens again and the prophet sees a 
white horse with a rider who is described as “* Faith- 
ful and True.” He has a name written, probably 
on His forehead, which no one is able to read but 
Himself. It is the new name referred to in the 
promise of those who overcome, given in the message 
to Philadelphia.1_ That name corresponds to the 
deepest realities of His nature which none on earth 
may understand, but for the aid of their faith an- 
other title is given Him, which is written on His 
garment and on His thigh: King of kings and Lord 
of lords. Christians know Him as “ The Word of 
God,” yet He is not revealed in this vision as the 
Word dwelling among men to give them light and 
life, as the prologue to the fourth gospel presents Him. 
He is here the Warrior-Judge. His flaming eyes 
pierce through all disguises and shrivel up all deceits ; 
the diadems He wears denote His universal sove- 
reignty ; His blood-stained garments speak of the 
execution He has wrought upon his enemies.? Be- 
hind Him, on white horses, ride the armies of heaven, 
all clothed in white—a pageant of victory. The 
sharp two-edged sword proceeding from His mouth, 
which John had seen in his first vision,’ is recognized 

4 Rev. in 12. ® Cf. Isa. Ixiti. 1-6. 8 Rev. i. 16; ii. 12. 


136 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEASTS 


again and passages from Scripture rush to the mind of 
the prophet telling how the Messiah should “ smite 
the earth with the rod of his mouth,” ! how He 
should rule the nations with a rod of iron,? and how 
He should tread the winepress of God’s wrath alone.® 

What is the meaning of this triumphant appear- 
ance of Christ? The answer to that question is 
given as the vision proceeds. The scene before the 
mystic eye of the prophet shifts again and an angel 
appears, “ standing in the sun,” who calls upon the 
carrion birds of the air to come and glut themselves 
on the corpses of the men and horses who have 
fallen in the great battle. It was an added horror of 
defeat and death, in the eyes of the ancient world, 
for a corpse to be left unburied, a prey to unclean 
birds. Sophocles’ great drama Antigone turns on 
this. John and his readers would feel the full force 
of this horror, and perhaps also see a gruesome con- 
trast between this “‘ great supper of God ” and the 
marriage supper of the Lamb. 

Again the scene changes and the reason for what 
has already been shown is made manifest.‘ The 
battle has been with the Beast and_the kings of the 
earth—the Empire and the Parthian allies whom the 
returning Nero was expected to bring to his aid. 
Now they are seen in battle array but only the issue 
of the conflict is described. The Beast and the 
False ee (the second Beast, who represents 


1 Isa. xi. 

2 Ps. ii. 9 + LXX.); cf. Rev. il. 27. 3 Isa. lxili. 3. 

4 Here, as elsewhere in this book, a good deal of perplexity is 
escaped when we remember that in telling dreams we often ‘‘ think 
back ’’—one scene recalling another which in part explains it. 
Students of psycho-analysis realize this. And even literary artists 
sometimes employ a similar method—Joseph Conrad, for instance. 


137 


| VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


the imperial priesthood) are cast alive into the lake 
of fire and their allies are slain and left to the birds. 

Thus end, for the prophet in his visions, the two 
monstrous powers of evil by which he and his fellow- 
Christians are being persecuted and oppressed. But 
behind those powers he had recognized another of 
which they were but the agents and ministers. It 
was Satan, the great Dragon,1 who was the real 
antagonist of Christ and His Church. And if final 
/ and complete victory were to be won, the Dragon 
must himself be overthrown. So John’s expecta- 
tions of final victory stimulate his spiritual imagina- 
tion and the great fact of which he is assured again 
clothes itself in the symbolism of a vision. 

Around the interpretation of this particular 
vision fierce and prolonged controversy has raged, 
but if we continue to follow the methods and prin- 
ciples of interpretation which have served us through- 
out our study of this book, we shall not find it 
necessary to concern ourselves about some of the 
questions which have been so hotly debated all 
through the history of the Church. 

The first part of the vision reveals an angel 
descending from heaven with the key of the abyss and 
a great chain in his hand. He lays hold of the 
Dragon, binds him with the chain and thrusts him 
into the abyss which he then shuts and seals. It is 
stated that the period for which the devil is thus 
bound will be a thousand years and that after that 
he must be loosed for a little time. But whether 
this information came to the prophet by angelic 
mediation in his vision, or whether it is his after- 

\ See Rev. xii 
138 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEASTS 


comment on what he had seen, is not evident. Then 
the prophet sees thrones set in the heavenly court 
and the faithful martyrs are raised from the dead to 
sit upon them and to share the reign of Christ on 
earth which will last a thousand years. This is 
described as “the first resurrection”? and it is 
explained that the rest of the dead will not rise until 
the thousand years has passed. A benediction is 
then pronounced upon these risen martyrs over 
whom the second death has no power and who are 
made priests of God and share Christ’s reign. 

As on previous occasions, the form of this vision 
and the language in which it is described have both 
been largely influenced by Jewish apocalyptic con- 
ceptions. We can find the clue to some of these 
ideas in the specimens of Jewish apocalyptic literature 
that have come down to us. In a section of the 
Book of Enoch written about 95 B.c. the history of the 
world is mapped out into periods called ‘‘ weeks.” * 
In a later book, Lhe Secrets of Enoch, these periods 
are reduced to seven and are called “days,” but 
by use of the idea suggested in the ninetieth 
Psalm—*“‘ a thousand years in thy sight are but as 
yesterday ”—they are allowed to represent a thou- 
sand years each. Then, by analogy with the seven 
days of creation, the seventh period is regarded as a 
Sabbath-millennium of rest and blessedness.* It is 
not stated, however, that this seventh period is 


1 Enoch xciii. 3-14, followed by xci. 12-17. 

2 Secrets of Enoch, xxxiii. 1. That this idea was accepted by 
Christians can be shown froma passage in Irenzus which explicitly 
states that as the world was created in six days, it will be concluded 
in six days of a thousand years each.—Against Heresies, Book 5, 
chap. xxviii. 3; cf. also 2 Peter iii. 8. 


139 


Tap f 
i & 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


identical with that of the Messianic reign. Gener- 
ally no limit for that reign is mentioned but in the 
Fourth Book of Ezra, which is probably to be dated 
between A.D. 30 and 70, it is stated that it will last 
four hundred years.1_ John was evidently influenced 
by the current Jewish idea of a Sabbath-millennium 
and he took that to be the period of Christ’s reign 
on earth, during which Satan was to be bound. 

It was also a conception of Jewish apocalyptic 
literature, which Christians had already adopted, 
that when the Messiah set up His reign on earth His 
saints should reign with Him. Our Lord Himself 
has used language moulded by this conception 
though He had transformed and spiritualized the 
idea in His teaching. Generally, however, these 
saints who reign with Christ appear to be the 
righteous who survive on the earth at His coming. 
But here John does not contemplate the existence of 
any faithful survivors. He thinks of all the faithful 
as having suffered martyrdom and he is concerned 
as to the special reward to be given to those who 
have maintained their loyalty at the cost of their 
lives. In the vision of the breaking of the Seals he 
has already seen the souls of the earlier martyrs given 
the white garment of the resurrection body? and 
now he sees all the rest of the martyrs sharing in a 
“ first resurrection ” in which no one else takes part. 
There 1s nothing else in the New Testament corre- 
sponding to this ideas We may recognize the 
truth of John’s conviction that those who have laid 


1 4 Ezra vii. 28. The figure is arrived at by combining 
Gen. xv. 13 with Ps, xc. 15. 
2 Rev. vi. 11. See p. 57. 


140 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEASTS 


down their lives for Christ will not lose their reward, 
but we know that martyrdom is not the only test of 
loyalty and faith. The frm of reward John here 
describes we must put down to his own peculiar 
outlook and not found a doctrine upon this passage 
which is unsupported elsewhere. ‘To allegorize or 
spiritualize his words by saying that they refer to 
the resurrection of the soul from sin is to introduce a 
method of interpretation which can make this or any 
other Scripture mean anything the reader desires. 

With regard to the thousand years of Christ’s 
reign on earth, remembering the purely symbolical 
character of all numbers which occur in these visions, 
we must see in this simply the splendid prophecy of 
the final and complete victory of Christ. It is 
altogether to misunderstand it and the book in 
which it is found to regard it as a programme in 
advance of the manner and time of that victory. 
Christians have been led far astray by the endeavour 
to impose a literal interpretation on the sublime 
symbolism which the inspired imagination of the 
prophet John moulded out of the strange and often 
fantastic conceptions of Jewish apocalypse. 

The prediction that has already been made that 
after the millennium Satan will be loosed for a little 
time is repeated in the seventh verse of the chapter, 
and a vague reference is made to great world con- 
flicts yet to come, in which occur the names of Gog 
and Magog—the conventional symbols which later 
apocalyptic literature borrowed from Ezekiel’ to 
represent nations hostile to the people of God. 
Then the prediction passes into a fragmentary 


1 Ezek, xxxviii. and xxxix. 


141 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


description of a vision of these wars, ending with the 
final destruction of the Dragon in the lake of fire into 
wiiich the Beast and the False Prophet had already 
been cast. 

After this, the description becomes clearer and 
fuller as it passes to the vision of the Last Judgment. 
Here we have one of the most solemn and impressive 
pictures this book contains. A throne is set of 
dazzling whiteness in the revealing light of which alli 
men must stand. It is not the throne of universal 
sovereignty but the tribune of universal judgment. 
Such judgment belongs to One alone—it is not 
shared with the martyrs as in the earlier vision of the 
millennium—and He is reverently left unnamed. 
Earth and heaven vanish before His face; there is 
room for nothing else, in the consciousness of men, 
when they stand in the presence of infinite holiness. 
And now the dead, great and small, thus stand before 
Him. Death and Hades, the shadowy world of 
departed spirits, give up those whom they have held 
in their power and the sea surrenders those whom it 
has devoured. All are judged according to their 
works. And for this purpose the books are opened 
which contain the record of men’s actions! and 
another book called ‘‘ the Book of Life” in which the 
names of the redeemed are registered. Death and 
Hades, now personified as demoniac powers, are cast 
into the lake of fire, which punishment is described 
as ‘‘ the second death,” and any whose names are not 
recorded in the Book of Life share the same fate. 

Jt is an awe-inspiring picture which sets forth, 
in symbolical fashion, truths which are an essential 
1 Cf. Daz. vii. 10. 

142 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEAST 


part of Christian teaching. They were taught by 
our Lord and the Apostle Paul repeatedly dwelt 
upon them. Some would see in this picture two 
contradictory ideas, one which suggests that destiny 
will be determined by character, and the other that 
it will be determined by the choice of redeeming 
grace. ‘These contrasted aspects of judgment are 
irremovable from any form of Christian doctrine 
found in the New Testament. ‘There is no contra- 
diction between them though we may not see ex- 
actly how they are to be reconciled. Nothing is 
clearer than that we are taught that “‘ we must all 
be made manifest before the judgment-seat of 
Christ ; that each one may receive the things done 
in the body, according to what he hath done whether 
it be good or bad,” ! and yet that it is “‘ not by works 
done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but 
according to His mercy He saved us.” * However 
irreconcilable the antinomy may be to the specula- 
tive reason, its practical solution is evident to all 
humble and earnest Christian minds. We must live 
as those who have to render an account of their 
works and yet as those who know that even if they 
had done all that was commanded, they would be 
unprofitable servants whose hope is in having their 
names written in the Book of Life of the Lamb that 


was slain. 
* While I draw this fleeting breath, 
When my eyelids close in death, 
When I soar to worlds unknown, 
See Thee on Thy Judgment-throne, 
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee.” 





1 2 Cor. v. Io. 2 Titus 111. 5. 
143 


CHAPTER 16 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


* My soul, there is a country 
Afar beyond the stars, 
Where stands a wingéd sentry 
All skilful in the wars. 
There, above noise and danger, 
Sweet Peace sits, crown’d with smiles, 
And One born in a manger 
Commands the beauteous files. 
He is thy gracious Friend, 
And—O my soul, awake !— 
Did in pure love descend 
To die here for thy sake. 
If thou canst get but thither, 
There grows the flower of Peace, 
The Rose that cannot wither, 
Thy fortress, and thy ease. 
Leave then thy foolish ranges ; 
For none can thee secure 
But One Who never changes— 
Thy God, thy life, thy cure.” 


H. VAUGHAN. 


Tue long series of visions of judgment is over. 
The great conflict has been fought and won. The 
Dragon with his agents the Beasts and all who aided 
and abetted them are cast into the lake of fire. 
Death and Hades, the last enemies that harassed and 
destroyed men, are themselves destroyed. Like 
Dante, leaving Hell with his guide, we emerge from 
the terror and gloom to “ distinguish the beauteous 
things which heaven bears and thence we issue to see 
again the stars.” 


ons 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


John has not been able to forget this closing vision 
of the great consummation of the divine purpose 
even while he has still been describing his visions of 
judgment. The marriage of the Lamb was antici- 
pated in the heavenly song of triumph over the fall 
of the harlot-city, and it looks as if the prophet was 
even then on the point of describing the city which 
was to be the Bride. Now he returns to that theme, 
telling how he saw a new heaven and a newearth, 
fulfilling the prophecy * of a section of the Book of 
Isaiah which had much influence on the vision he is 
beginning to describe. Very significantly he adds 
*‘ and the sea is no more.” ‘The sea had often been 
regarded as the restless and devouring enemy by 
Jewish writers both in the Old Testament and out 
of it. Probably the origin of that idea may be found 
in the myth of a chaos monster whom God overcame 
at the creation, which partly accounts for the form 
of the Dragon in this book, but what would be upper- 
most in the mind of one separated from his friends 
by exile on an island would be the feeling suggested 
in the pregnant line of Matthew Arnold: ‘‘ The 
unplumb’d, salt, estranging sea.” * ‘Then he speaks 
of the holy city which he saw “ coming down out of 
heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for 
her husband.” But before entering upon a detailed 
description of that city as he saw it, he prepares the 
minds of his readers to understand the significance 
of the vision by telling them what he heard. 

A voice spoke to him from the throne announcing 
the fulfilment of the deepest yearnings of the saints 
and the holiest anticipations of the prophets of all 


1 Isa. lxv. 17. 2 To Marguerite ‘(last line). 


145 K 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 
the ages. God is to dwell with His people in free 


and gracious intercourse. By His presence all grief 
and sorrow and pain, even death itself, shall be for 
ever banished. He Himself proclaims, from the 
throne of His creative power and redemptive love, 
that He makes all things new. The wonder of it all 
is overwhelming, but the announcement is confirmed 
in the most solemn fashion by Him who is the first 
and the last. ‘To all who thirst for life He will give 
to drink freely from its fountain, and all who over- 
come in their battle will share the glories of the new 
order of things and enjoy perfect fellowship with 
Him as His children. But as for the rest—those 
who are guilty of all manner of evil—they have cut 
themselves off from all such privilege and incurred 
the doom of the second death in the lake of fire. 
Now the prophet would describe more fully what 
he saw in his vision, so he goes back to the beginning 
and tells how it was shown to him by “one of the 
angels who had the seven bowls,” just as the earlier 
vision of the judgment of the Scarlet Woman was. 
The words of the angel in each case appear to suggest 
an intentional contrast between the two visions: 
“Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the 
great harlot.” * ‘Come hither, I will show thee the 
bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ? Look on this picture 
and on that and let the contrast between them stimu- 
late both fear and hope, both thankfulness and awe. 
As we read the prophet’s description of this 
Bride-city, glowing with colour, full of splendid 
imagery, impressing us powerfully by the brilliance 
of the poetic imagination it displays, we need to 


1 Rev. xvii. I. 2 Rev. xxi. 9. 


146 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


enter into deep sympathy with the spiritual emotion 
with which he sets forth the inexpressible glory and 
joy of the heavenly life under the figures and 
symbols of earth. We cannot arrive at the meaning 
and worth of this vision by any mere analysis of its 
content, in which we trace the imagery to its sources, 
or by reading into separate details some allegorical 
significance, or by attempting so to harmonize the 
features described that we can reconstruct the city 
in our imagination or draw a plan or picture of it on 
paper. We must treat it as inspired poetry and 
allow it to kindle in our souls all the emotions of 
wonder and hope and joy of which it was born. We 
can find no better language in which to express our 
aspirations for the heavenly life, the things which 
eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor heart conceived. 

It is well for us, however, to understand some- 
thing of the great heritage of prophetic tradition by 
which John’s imagination had been stimulated and 
enriched. As we go back to the words of the 
prophets and psalmists we realize how much Jeru- 
salem had always stood for in the minds of devout 
Israelites. For them it was always the City of God. 
It might be cursed by foolish and wicked rulers ; it 
might be disgraced by the corruption and apostasy 
of its people; it might be razed to the dust by 
heathen conquerors; yet the divine love and pur- 
pose for it remained the same. Though not one 
stone of it were left upon another, God had graven 
it on the palms of His hands and its walls were con- 
tinually before Him.* And when all the pious and 
patriotic hopes that had centred in the restoration 


1 Isa. xlix. 16. 


147 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


of the city seemed doomed to disappointment, when 
it appeared to some of the most devout and faithful 
lovers of the city that it was too stained with evil 
and too secularized in spirit ever to become the 
centre of the Messianic Kingdom for which they 
looked, they conceived a fresh hope that its heavenly 
counterpart, pure and perfect, prepared in heaven 
from the beginning of things, would descend to earth 
and thus the God-given ideal would be realized.’ 

It is this great conception which we have, born 
anew and born in nobler form, in John’s vision. We 
find much in it that reminds us of Hebrew prophecy, 
particularly of the closing chapters of Isaiah and of 
Ezekiel’s description of his ideal city,* but all the 
old material is remoulded and filled with the spirit 
of Christian faith and hope. The details that are 
given are all profoundly suggestive so long as they 
are read as poetical figures of speech not as the items 
of an architect’s specifications! ‘There is an ampli- 
tude in the city’s proportions which promises room 
for all—‘ many mansions.” It lies foursquare, the 
length and breadth being equal and the measurement 
of each nearly fourteen hundred miles.* Its wall, 

1 Cf. Gal. iv. 26. The idea, however, was not clearly or widely 
held until after the fall of Jerusalem, a.D. 70. 

IA EI a i oa ONY 9 

3 That is what the first part of verse 16 suggests. In the second 
part the words ‘‘and the height’’ occur which make the city a cube 
in shape. This would follow the analogy of the Holy of holies and, 
according to symbolical usage, would suggest the idea of perfection. 
It is a little difficult, however, to see why this third dimension 
should be introduced here, especially as the height of the wail is 
mentioned as 216 feet. Certainly it may belong to John’s original 
description but possibly it may have been added by a later copyist 
who had in mind the measurements of the altars of burnt offering 


and incense, and the Holy of holies (Exod. xxvii. I; xxx. 23 
i Kings vi. 20). 


148 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


great and high, suggests the security of those who 
dwell within it and its twelve gates, each with its 
angel guardian, tell of the universality of access it 
offers. ‘The foundations are as many as the gates 
and as the latter are associated, through the influence 
of Ezekiel’s vision, with the twelve tribes of Israel, 
the former are inscribed with the names of the twelve 
Apostles. The materials of which the city is built 
suggest not only splendour and richness but an 
entrancing beauty of colour. We must remember 
here how greatly precious stones always appeal to 
the mind of orientals, and how keen is their colour 
sense. ‘The stones mentioned are mostly those 
included in the breastplate of the Jewish high 
priest,? and we find them also mentioned in Ezekiel’s 
description of Tyre.” The abiding significance of it 
all for us is that the heavenly state is one which 
perfectly satisfies that sense of beauty which is one 
of the three essential characteristics of the life of the 
spirit. 

The greatest and most significant fact about this 
ideal city, however, is that it is permeated by the 
presence and glory of God and the Lamb. The 
chief feature of the earthly Jerusalem was the 
Temple, which was a local and material symbol of the 
presence of God. But in the heavenly Jerusalem 
there is no place set apart as specially sacred to the 
divine presence. God is everywhere; the city is 
itself a temple. And because of the radiant glory 
of the divine presence there is no need of the 
celestial luminaries of the first creation.* ‘The place 

1 Exod. xxviii. 17/f. 2 Ezek. xxviii, 13. 
3 Cf. Isa. lx. Ig. 


149 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


where God dwells is a city of light and darkness — 
cannot fall upon it. Nothing could more clearly 
show the spiritual character of this ideal city or 
suggest more strongly that heaven is the perfect 
realization of the presence of God in all the splendour 
of His power and the glory of His love. 

Of this city, the gates are always open * for danger 
and darkness do not threaten its inhabitants. Like 
cities of earth whose wealth and influence have been 
increased by the tribute of kings and nations, this 
heavenly city will receive all that men can bring 
of those spiritual riches which constitute eternal 
treasure. But nothing that is unclean, no one who 
is evil, can enter it ; only the redeemed, whose names 
are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

One feature of the city to which the angel of 
John’s vision called his attention was the “ river of 
water of life, bright as crystal.” Here is an old 
symbol, familiar to us from both Old Testament and 
New Testament usage, for the blessings which flow 
to men from the presence of God. ‘The river flows 
from the throne down the centre of the street and it 
is bordered on either side by trees of life which bear 
twelve different kinds of fruit, one each month, and 
the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations. 
_ This imagery is obviously suggested by the vision of 
Ezekiel,’ and here John’s vision ceases to be altogether 
concerned with the future life. With that lack of 
consistency which is so characteristic of these visions 
and so puzzling to strictly logical minds, John 
describes a feature of the heavenly city which sug- 
gests not only the future bliss of the redeemed but 


Cli isa ix rr. 2 Ezek. xlvii. 6-12. 
ISo 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


also the satisfaction of souls that are athirst and lives 
that are sick and wounded here and now upon 
earth. 

We need not fear some such lack of consistency 
in our interpretation of this vision and its message 
for to-day. Some expositors have said that the New 
Jerusalem portrayed in this vision is not to be looked 
for in the future but is to be found in the present. 
It has been taken as an ideal representation of the 
Christian Church which has been among us for 
nearly nineteen centuries, or as a picture of the 
perfect state of human society, which is yet to be 
realized on earth. We cannot accept either of 
these interpretations when we remember that all the 
indications are that the vision is intended to show the 
perfect consummation of the bliss of the redeemed, 
after the Judgment and the Resurrection. Never- 
theless, the ideal city of the future is a pattern to 
which we must look and work in the present. Our 
Lord taught us to pray: “ Thy Kingdom come; 
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And 
there is a sense in which we have to seek to build 
the New Jerusalem here upon earth. We need the 
vision of the heavenly city to inspire us in our effort 
to build a better earthly state : 


‘It takes the ideal to blow a hair’s breadth off 
The dust of the actual.’ } 


In one of the greatest classics of the world’s litera- 

ture, Plato describes his ideal state and shows what 

sort of men are required to establish it and direct 

it. ‘Towards the end of the Dialogue, Glaucon says 

that this city exists in idea only, not anywhere 
1 EF, B. Browning, Aurora Leigh, Book II. 


ISI 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


upon earth. And Socrates replies: “In heaven 
there is laid up a pattern of it, which he who desires 
may behold, and, beholding, may set his own house 
in order. But whether such an one exists, or ever 
will exist in fact, is no matter; for he will live after 
the manner of that city, having nothing to do with 
any other.”? The Christian, also, has his ideal 
city in heaven, and whether such a city is realized 
on earth or not, it is his business to “live after 
the manner of it.” An illustration may be sug- 
gested by Dr Moffatt’s translation of the words of 
St Paul which the Revised Version renders ‘ our 
citizenship is in heaven”? as “we are a colony 
of heaven.” ‘The colonist’s business is to reproduce 
the manners, laws and institutions of the mother- 
country in the land where his lot is cast. 

But when all this has been said, we need to 
remember that the Christian point of view goes 
beyond that of the idealistic reformer who says : 


“* I will not cease from mental fight, 
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, 
Till we have built Jerusalem 
In England’s green and pleasant land.” § 


As the late Dr J. H. Moulton put it in an address 
he gave some years ago: ‘“‘We have no sufficient 
grounds for believing that material progress will ever 
cleanse the Augean stable of this world, or even of 
this England, sufficiently to make it a site for the 
Heavenly City of our faith. . .. Beyond all other 
men we need to be otherworldly, heavenly-minded, 


1 Plato’s Republic, Book 9, 592 oye 
2 Phil. iii. 20. . Blake. 


152 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


our treasure laid up in the place where no moth or 
rust doth consume, and no demon of disillusionment 
breaks in to steal our life’s hope. We need not fear 
that otherworldliness will make us less eager for the 
mending of this world. We fight against fleshly 
lusts because they ‘ war against the soul ’—the one 
part of man that is meant to see the Kingdom of 
God and therefore is beyond any exchanging with 
treasures that this world can give. We strive to 
destroy sweating and swilling, because such environ- 
ments make it so fearfully difficult for a human 
spirit to be made ready for service in the realm of 
light. ... The Christian does not know, and 
knows he does not know, how long the interval that 
separates him from the heaven of his hope. But be 
the interim long or short, his daily conduct is deter- 
mined by the call to live worthily of his franchise in 
the City of God.” ? 

So we come back to John’s vision of the New Jeru- 
salem and letting the picture of the gates of pearl, the 
jewelled foundations and the golden streets, fall out 
of view for the moment, we centre our thought on 
the words in which the prophet gathers up his 
impressions and reiterates the prediction to which 
they have given birth: “‘ There shall be no curse any 
more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall 
be therein: and his servants shall do him service ; 
and they shall see his face; and his name shall be 
on their foreheads. And there shall be night no 
more; and they need no light of lamp, neither 
light of sun ; for the Lord God shall give them light : 
and they shall reign for ever and ever.” All we need 

4 Free Church Year Book, 1911, pp. 49-51 


153 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


to know is there; everything that will appeal to the 
spiritually minded—the presence of God, the vision 
of God, the service of God and likeness to God: 
“His name shall be on their foreheads.” ‘There 
will be nothing to mar that bliss—“ no curse any 
more ”—and no limit or term will be set to its 
enjoyment—“ they shall reign for ever and ever.” 
What else could be needed for the perfect satisfaction 
of souls created in the image and likeness of God ? 

But let us remember that the ideal here presented 
is not only one in which we are to find our ultimate 
satisfaction but one in the realization of which Christ 
also is to find His satisfaction. ‘The holy city, the 
community of the redeemed enjoying the consumma- 
tion of their redemption, is the Bride of the Lamb. 
It is at “‘ the marriage supper of the Lamb ” that 
Christ will ‘‘ present to himself a glorious Church, 
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” ? 
Then He shall see of the travail of His soul and be 
satisfied. So the hope of the individual Christian, 
the hope of the Church and the hope of the Re- 
deemer Himself are blended into one and fixed upon 
the great Consummation. 


‘““ As these white robes are soil’d and dark, 

To yonder shining ground ; 

As this pale taper’s earthly spark, 
To yonder argent round ; 

So shows my soul before the Lamb, 
My spirit before Thee ; 

So in my earthly house, I am, 
To that I hope to be. 





1 Eph. v. 27. 
154 


THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 


Break up the heavens, O Lord ! and far, 
Through all yon starlight keen, 

Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star, 
In raiment white and clean. 


He lifts me to the golden doors, 
The flashes come and go; 

All heaven bursts her starry floors, 
And strows her lights below, 

And deepens on and up! the gates 
Roll back, and far within 

For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits, 
‘To make me pure of sin. 

The sabbaths of Eternity 
One sabbath deep and wide— 

A light upon the shining sea— 
The Bridegroom with his bride!” 2 





4 Tennyson, St Agnes’ Eve. 


155 


CHAPTER 17_ 


THE EPILOGUE 


** Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane, 
East wind and frost are safely gone ; 
With zephyr mild and balmy rain 
The summer comes serenely on ; 
Earth, air, and sun, and skies combine 
To promise al. that’s kind and fair :-— 
But thou, O human heart of mine, 
Be still, contain thyself, and bear. 


December days were brief and chill, 

The winds of March were wild and drear, 
And, nearing and receding still, 

Spring never would, we thought, be here, 
The leaves that burst, the suns that shine, 

Had, not the less, their certain date :— . 
And thou, O human heart of mine, 

Be still, refrain thyself, and wait.” 

A. H. CLoucsH. 


Tue series of visions, which the Book of the Revela- 
tion describes, ends with the fifth verse of the 
twenty-second chapter. The remainder of the 
book is of the nature of an epilogue and corresponds 
closely with the prologue found in the first chapter. 
It consists partly of fragments of utterances which 
John heard during his visionary experiences, partly 
of his own solemn attestations of the truth of what 
he has written, and probably, to a small extent, of 
later additions, made when the immediate crisis 


156 


THE EPILOGUE 
which called for the book had passed away and it 


was used as sacred Scripture to be read in the services 
of the Church. The blessing upon him who reads 
and those who hear * pronounced in the prologue and 
the blessing upon those who keep the words of the 
prophecy * in the epilogue probably belong to the 
latter category, as also the curse upon those who add 
or take away from the words of the book * and the 
concluding benediction. ‘The statement of supreme 
importance which John made in this epilogue, as 
he had done in the prologue, is that which affirms, 
in the most solemn and impressive manner, the 
immediate return of Christ. This expectation has 
been with him all through the series of visions he has 
recorded. Now he remembers a command that his 
prophecy is not to be “sealed,” like Daniel’s,‘ as 
something which is to be preserved for a distant 
future. The crisis is at hand, so near in fact 
that there is no time for the change of men’s 
characters ; they must remain as they are and what 
they are. 

To this promise of the return of Christ, the 
Spirit, speaking through the prophets, and the 
Church as a whole—already regarded as the Bride— 
respond “Come!” All who hear the words of the 
prophecy read are exhorted to repeat the cry, 
“Come!” And then, by a sudden turn of the 
thought, the invitation to come is addressed not to 
Christ but to those who hitherto have not known the 
experience of His salvation. ‘They are pleaded with 
to come and take the water of life freely. 

1 i. 3. 2 xxii. 7. 8 xxii. 18 and rg. 
# Cf. Dan. viii. 26 and xil. 9. 


157 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


It is an almost bewildering change of note, for we 
have only just heard that it is too late for men to 
alter; that the advent of Christ is so near that 
characters and destinies are fixed. Yet this kind of 
thing is characteristic of this book. ‘The stern 
message of condemnation and rejection sent to 
Laodicea was accompanied with a gracious offer and 
promise: ‘‘ Behold I stand at the door and knock: 
if any man open the door, I will come in to him and 
wil] sup with him and he with me.” ! ‘The prophecy 
of judgment is itself a call to repentance. ‘The last 
word is not with the apocalyptist, who sees the end 
of all things at hand, but with the evangelist, who 
cannot suppress the offer of grace so long as there is 
an ear to listen and a heart to respond. Again we 
see how little logic has to do with the interpretation 
of this book. ‘The truths with which it deals are too 
great to be confined in any human formulas. They 
can be hinted at, suggested, indicated from different 
standpoints, but their perfect and harmonious 
reconciliation is not to be found by any cold process 
of intellectual argument but through the spiritual 
insight of a redeemed and enlightened soul. 

As we close the book we have to face the fact that 
John’s confident prophecy of the immediate return 
of Christ was not fulfilled. We cannot explain it 
away by the method ef Jewish rabbis, interpreting 
a day as a thousand years, or by adopting any similar 
device. We may say, truly enough, that there is 
no perspective in prophecy ; present and future are 
seen together without distinction. Nevertheless it 
is perfectly evident that John meant his readers to 

1 Rev. iil. 20. 


158 


THE EPILOGUE 


understand that the return of Christ was immediately 
at hand. His expectation was not realized. The 
crisis with which he and his readers were brought 
face to face was momentous. It is not too much to 
say that upon the issue of it the existence of Chris- 
tianity and the future of the world depended. In 
that crisis the presence and power of the living, 
reigning Christ was indeed gloriously manifest, 
as it has been in other crises which have been passed 
since then. But such “ comings” of Christ do not 
fulfil the prophecy of the great consummation of all 
things which John delivered so confidently. That 
has not yet taken place though nearly two thousand 
years have gone by since John wrote. 

We must remember that the worth of any 
prophecy does not lie in the accuracy with which 
the future is forecasted, but in the insight it shows 
into spiritual facts and the power it has to quicken 
faith in eternal realities. We see that in the case of 
the Old Testament prophets, and it is just as true 
of the prophet John though he is dealing not merely 
with a crisis in the fortunes of a nation but with the 
consummation of the world’s history. “Ifa great 
man interprets a national crisis so as to bring home 
to the nation its true ideals and destination, he 
remains a true prophet even if his forecast was mis- 
taken. Without the critical situation it is probable 
that the great man could never have brought so 
much truth to such powerful expression. So an 
eschatology is not to be judged by a simple rule of 
agreement with facts, but rather by its fitness under 
the circumstances to quicken faith in God, to stir the 
conscience and put men’s wills under the dominance 


159 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


of ideal motives, to give a living sense of God and 
eternity.” * 

To say that John was mistaken in his expectation 
of the immediate return of Christ does not do justice 
to the essential truth of his prophecy. It is the 
certainty of the return that is the real heart of his 
message, not the immediacy of it. He believed that 
behind all the apparent confusion of history there 
was a moral order which must be vindicated and 
that such vindication was inseparable from the 
triumphant manifestation of Jesus Christ as Redeemer 
and Lord. And that is the inspired truth that we 
are called upon to receive and cherish. The form 
in which it clothed itself for John, as for all the 
earliest disciples, was fashioned by Messianic and 
apocalyptic ideas which were part of his Jewish 
inheritance.* It may be that our minds are still 
so largely moulded by such conceptions, as they have 
come down to us through the ages, that even now 


1 Porter, Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers, p. 73. 

2 A brilliant attempt has recently been made in The Lord of Thought 
(Dougall and Emmet) to show that such a use of Jewish apocalyptic 
ideas was not endorsed by the teaching of our Lord. The present 
writer, however, is not convinced that this element in the gospels 
is enitvely due to those who reported that teaching. Another method 
of dealing with the difficulty may be indicated in the words of the 
late Dr Denney: ‘’ We are compelled, apparently, to recognize that 
in infusing into the disciples His own assurance of the final triumph 
of God’s cause in His own person, our Lord had to make use of 
representations which have turned out unequal to the truth. He 
had to put His sense of the absolute significance of His person for 
God and man into a form which was relative to the mind of the 
time. The eschatological Christ, coming on the clouds of heaven, 
and coming in the lifetime of some who heard His voice, was one 
expression for Jesus of this absolute significance; and it is as such 
an expression—that is, as an assurance of the speedy triumph of 
God’s cause in and through Him, and not in its spectacular detail— 
that we believe in it.’ —Dictionary of Christ and His Gospels, Vol. II. 


p. 396. 
160 


THE EPILOGUE 


we can best express our hope and faith in the same 
imagery. But, if so, we should recognize the 
distinction between the form and the essence of the 
truth, and not demand from others the use of 
language which is a stumbling-block in their case. 
Difficulties arising from the literal interpretation 
of apocalyptic imagery ‘‘ would be lessened if it were 
remembered that the Coming of the Lord, according 
to the New Testament, synchronizes with the 
change which is to convert flesh and blood into a 
spiritual and incorruptible body. It is clear from 
this consideration, that the final Epiphany will not 
be such as to appeal to our present organs of sense ; 
the descriptions which represent it as such cannot 
therefore be interpreted literally. It may indeed be 
that the change which will pass over us will itself 
be the unveiling or epiphany or advent of the 
hidden Christ.” * 

However we may conceive the final coming of 
Christ, and whatever mental pictures we may form 
of that event, the essential reality of it must be a great 
spiritual manifestation which will mark the over- 
throw of all evil and the perfect achievement of the 
eternal redemptive purpose of holy love. To this 
hope we must cling. Without it what refuge have 
we from darkness and despair? We cannot believe 
in the worth of righteousness without believing in 
its final victory. We cannot believe in the reality 
of love without believing that at last it must be 
supreme. And for us righteousness and love are 
bound up with the person of Jesus Christ. Their 
final triumph must be the supreme manifestation of 

1 Swete, The Ascended Christ, p. 136. 
161 L 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


His presence and power. So we must hold fast to 
the hope the Church has always cherished, no matter 
by what words or symbols we seek to express it. He 
must reign! He shall come! Our hearts respond 
eagerly to John’s prayer: “Amen: come, Lord 
Jesus.” 
“‘ Break, day of God, O break ! 
The night has lingered long ; 
Our hearts with sighing wake, 
We weep for sin and wrong : 
O Bright and Morning Star draw near, 
O Sun of Righteousness, appear.”’ 1 


1 Dr H. Burton. 


162 


APPENDIX 


A NOTE ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE BOOK 


Wiruin the limits of a volume of this size, it is 
impossible to discuss in any adequate way the com- 
plicated and difficult problem of the authorship of 
the Book of the Revelation. Happily, no question, 
either of its interpretation or of its authority, 
depends upon the solution of this problem. It is 
sufficient for all such purposes to accept the state- 
ments the Book itself contains that the name of its 
author was John, that he was a brother and com- 
panion in suffering of those to whom he wrote and 
that he belonged to the order of Christian Prophets. 

It is natural, however, that we should ask if any- 
thing else is known about the writer and especially so 
as four other writings have come down to us in the 
New Testament, to which the name of John has 
been attached by very ancient tradition. 

The first question we ask is, Was this book written 
by the same hand that wrote the fourth Gospel? It 
is not difficult to find some points of similarity 
between the two books. For instance, two terms 
which are applied to Christ in the first chapter of 
the Gospel, and which are not used in the same way 
in the other three gospels, reappear in the Book of 
the Revelation—the ‘‘ Word” and the “ Lamb.” 
Nevertheless there is a marked distinction between 


163 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


the way these words are used in the two books. 
In the Gospel the ‘‘ Word ”’ is used in a profoundly 
metaphysical sense to express the truth of the pre- 
existence of Christ and the mediation of Creation 
and Redemption through Him. In the Apocalypse 
the ‘‘ Word of God” is the name given to Christ 
as Warrior-King riding in triumph from the con- 
quest of His enemies. As regards the “‘ Lamb,” 
though a different Greek word is used, the idea of the 
expiation of sin through sacrifice is suggested in both 
cases, but in the Apocalypse the chief emphasis is 
laid upon the Lamb’s power to control history and 
to give victory and lordship to His followers. 

Such similarities as these do not imply more than 
the use of a certain religious vocabulary which was 
possessed by some group of Christians with which 
both works are associated. ‘There needs to be a 
much closer identity of modes of speech to afford 
ground for argument as to a common authorship 
and this is lacking. Many of the most characteristic 
words of the Gospel do not occur in the Apocalypse 
at all. Moreover, the grammar and style of the 
Greek in which the two books are written are so 
different that it is extraordinarily difficult to believe 
that they could ever proceed from the same person, 
even if the widest interval were allowed between 
the dates at which they were written. 

Such considerations, which can only be fully 
appreciated by close students of the original language 
of the books, are reinforced by others which can be 
recognized by the reader of any translation. ‘The 
conception of God in the Apocalypse follows much 
more closely the lines of Old Testament thought 

164 


A NOTE ON THE AUTHORSHIP 


than that given in the Gospel. His majesty and 
glory are emphasized but little is said of His love and 
nothing of His fatherhood. ‘Then the whole idea 
of the second coming of Christ and the Judgment 
which is the main theme of the Apocalypse is treated 
in a totally different way in the Gospel. There the 
stress is laid on the coming of the Holy Spirit in 
communion with whom men will discover Christ’s 
presence and on a Judgment which is purely spiritual 
and automatic. In both books one can trace 
similar ideas but they are expressed so differently— 
in one case in such abstract, theoretical terms, and 
in the other, in such vivid, concrete, imaginative 
symbolism—that the suggestion that they have been 
developed and expressed by two entirely different 
types of mind is inevitable. 

The second question which emerges is, Was this 
book written by the Apostle John? Early and 
widespread tradition, dating back to less than half a 
century from the time the book was written, asserts 
that it was. But this tradition also affirms that the 
Apostle was the author of the fourth Gospel and we 
have pointed out the grave difficulty of assigning 
both books to the same writer. ‘This difficulty was 
felt as early as the middle of the third century by 
Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, who, in order to 
maintain the Johannine authorship of the Gospel 
denied the Apocalypse to the Apostle. But sup- 
posing, as many people think, that the Gospel was 
not written by John, or that it is simply the Gospel 
according to St John, reproducing the Apostle’s 
teaching but actually compiled by some disciple of 
his, is it possible in that case to ascribe the Apocalypse 

165 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


to John the son of Zebedee? ‘There are some 
touches in the portrait of John given in the first 
three gospels which suggest that he might have been 
a man of such fiery zeal and stern indignation 
against evil as the prophet who wrote the Apocalypse 
appears to have been. But it would be rather 
remarkable if the intercourse of the Apostle with 
Jesus, and sixty or more years’ experience of the 
Christian life, had wrought no change upon him. 
We find it easier to accept the tradition of the aged 
and gentle saint whose constant exhortation to his 
people was “* Little children, love one another.” 

A more important consideration, however, is that 
the writer of the Apocalypse never claims to be an 
Apostle. He always calls himself a Prophet. It is 
perfectly clear that in the early Church the Apostles 
ranked first and the order of Prophets held only the 
second place. Apostles might have prophetic ex- 
periences of “ visions and revelations,” as St Paul did, 
but while they could be referred to as brethren,? 
recognizing their fellowship with the whole com- 
munity, there is no evidence anywhere that, when 
official position or authority was concerned, they 
would relinquish the higher claim of an Apostle for 
the lower one of a Prophet. A still more conclusive 
objection to the apostolic authorship, to the present 
writer’s mind, is the fact that the human form of 
Jesus of Nazareth, as the Apostle knew Him in the 
days of His flesh, never appears in the Apocalypse. 
The whole conception of the glorified Christ is 
shaped and moulded by ideas of Jewish prophecy 
and apocalypse. It may be granted that in visions 

11 Cor. xii. 28. 2 2 Peter ili. 15. 
166 


A NOTE ON THE AUTHORSHIP 


such figures and symbols might take a far larger place 
than under normal, unecstatic conditions of thought, 
but it is not natural to suppose that the figure of the 
human Jesus would be altogether suppressed. And 
even if that figure were absent from the visions, we 
should expect the Apostle at least to refer to it 
in those parts of the book in which he is interpreting 
or commenting upon his visions. In addition to this 
there is a considerable amount of evidence, of a 
cumulative character, indicating that the Apostle 
John died as a victim of Jewish persecution some- 
where between the years 64 and 70, in which case he 
- could not have written a book which, as our whole 
previous interpretation shows, springs out of a 
situation which only existed between the years 93 
and 96. 

A third suggestion is that this book adopts the 
device, so common to apocalyptical literature, of 
claiming the authority of anassumed name. For this 
view there is little to be said. If any name were 
assumed it would need to be one that was well 
known and carried great weight. If the book had 
claimed to be written by the Apostle there might 
be some slender ground for this suggestion, though 
it would be open to the objection that apocalypses 
were usually attributed to persons who had lived 
in long past ages. But there could be no reason for 
ascribing the book to the Prophet John—a person 
who is not heard of outside the book itself. ‘There 
was no reason at all for adopting the device of 
pseudonymity in this case; the whole force of the 
appeal of this book lies in the fact that it came from 
one whom its readers knew personally, whose 


167 


VISIONS OF HOPE AND FEAR 


authority they recognized and who was actually 
suffering from such persecution as he expected would 
soon overtake them. 

Other suggestions that have been made are that 
the book was written by John Mark or by John the 
Elder (or Presbyter). ‘The former suggestion need 
not detain us; there is no evidence to discuss. “The 
latter is much more important but can only be 
briefly dealt with here. The suggestion was first 
made by Dionysius of Alexandria (mentioned above), 
who referred to a story he had heard of two tombs 
in Ephesus bearing the name of John and hinted that 
one of them might be the tomb of John the Apostle 
and the other the tomb of another John who wrote 
the Apocalypse. Eusebius of Czsarea, who wrote 
his Ecclestastical H1story early in the fourth century, 
quotes from some now lost writings of Papias, who 
was Bishop of Hierapolis two centuries earlier, a 
passage in which he refers to two Johns, the Apostle 
and the Elder, and calls them both the Lord’s 
disciples, and he infers that if the Apocalypse is not 
to be assigned to the Apostle it was probably the 
work of the Elder. Not very long after this we find 

erome referring to a common tradition that John 
the Elder is the Elder referred to in the addresses 
of the two brief Epistles known as 2 and 3 John. 

The figure of this John the Elder seems a very 
shadowy one and the occurrence of the word 
* Elder ” in these two small Epistles is a slender link 
by which to bind him to them. If, however, this be 
accepted it does not help us to solve the question 
of the authorship of the Apocalypse. Such short 
Epistles do not afford much material for argument 

168 


A NOTE ON THE AUTHORSHIP 


based on linguistic grounds, but Dr Charles’ very 
careful analysis seeks to show that they have more 
affinities with the first Epistle and the Gospel than 
with the Apocalypse, and he argues that the Gospel 
and all three Epistles are from John the Elder, while 
the Apocalypse is from the otherwise unknown John 
the Prophet. 

Leaving aside the question of the authorship of 
the Gospel and Epistles, which we must not discuss 
here, we have not enough knowledge of the person of 
John the Elder to form any confident judgment as 
to whether he is to be identified with John the 
Prophet or not. John was an exceedingly common 
name amongst the Jews. ‘There are five distinct 
Johns mentioned in the New Testament and if 
John the Prophet, the author of the Book of the 
Revelation, be a sixth, we need not be surprised or 
perplexed by the fact. He was one of the greatest 
of Jewish Christians who splendidly served his own 
generation under the guidance of the Spirit of God, 
and who, by his courage and faith, his clear insight 
and his glowing imagination, has made all later 
generations of Christians his debtors, even when they 
have missed much of the wealth they might have 
found owing to mistaken methods of interpreting 
his words. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Tue following works, amongst others, have been used in the 
preparation of this book : 


I. COMMENTARIES by Swete, Moffatt (Exposttor’s Greek 
Testament), Charles (International Critical Commentary), 
Anderson Scott (Century Bible), J. T. Dean (Bztble 
Class Handbooks). 

2. INTRODUCTION AND EXPposITION— 

Selwyn’s Christian Prophets. 

Peake’s Revelation of St John. 

Charles’ Schweich Lectures on the Apocalypse. 

Porter’s Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers. 

Anderson Scott’s The Book of the Revelation (The 
Devotional and Practical Commentary). 

J. T. Dean’s Visions and Revelations. 

Ramsay’s The Letters to the Seven Churches. 

3. HistorRiIcAaL BACKGROUND— 

Mommsen’s Provinces of the Roman Empire. 

Hardy’s Studies in Roman History (second edition of 
Christianity and the Roman Government). 

Dill’s Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius. 

Workman’s Persecution in the Early Church. 

14. EXTRA-CANONICAL WRITINGS— 

Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 
edited by Charles. 

5. Also various articles in Hastings’ Bible Dictionary, Diction- 


ary of the Apostolic Church, and The Encyclopedia 
Biblica. 


If a briefer list of books for further study is desired the 


following selection is suggested : 


1. Moffatt (Greek) or Dean (English). 
2. Charles’ Schweich Lectures. 
3. Workman. 
14. Charles’ Between the Old and the New Testaments (Home 
University Library). 
5. Porter’s Revelation (H.B.D.), Muirhead’s Apocalypse 
(D.A.C.), Charles’ Apocalyptic Literature (E.B.). 


1 Convenient and cheap reprints of the English translations of 
some of the chief Jewish apocalyptical books are published by the 
S/PLCU: 


170 


INDEX 


Abaddon, 72 

Abyss, 71, 72, 138 

Adam and Eve, Life of, 89 
Additions, 157 

Adoration, 47 

Advent, Second, 41, 157-162,165 
Alford, H., 106 

Altar, 56, 69 

Amulets, 42 

Ancient of Days, 26 

Angel of the Waters, 117 
Angels, Fallen, 71, 74, 87 

» of the Churches, 28. 

Af » Winds, 62. 

» Orders of, 46, 47. 
Antichrist, 22, 63, 80-82, 95, 96. 
Antipas, 38, 56. 

Apocalypse, Meaning of, I, 5, 7. 

Apocalyptic Literature, x, I, 7, 
S, 9, 10, 13, 14, 57, 62, 71, 79, 
80, 105, 120, 126, 139, I4I. 

Apocalyptic teaching in Gospels, 
58, 59, 140, 160. 

Apocrypha, 7. 

Apollyon, 72. 

Armageddon, see Har-Magedon. 

Ascension of Isaiah, 96. 

Asiarch, 17. 

Augustine, III. 

Augustus, 16, 125. 

Authorship, 163-169. 


Babylon, 109, 123, 128, 130. 
As (Rome), 109, 117, 122- 
132. 
Balaam, 39. 


171 


Beast, The, 81, 92-96, 117, 137. 
heads of, 93, 124- 
127. 
image of, 97, 98, 117. 
mark of, 97-101, 105, 
127: 
worship of, see Em- 
peror-worship. 
», Lhe second, 97, 117, 137. 
Bibliography, 170. 
Blood of martyrs, 56, 117, 123, 
129. 
“s », sinners, I12, 136. 
» », the Lamb. See Lamb. 
» Waters turned to, 70, 117. 
Book of Life. See Life. 
» The little, 78, 79. 
OL ies Sealed,, AQ: 
Books of judgment, 142. 
Bow, 53. 
Bowls, The seven, 114-121. 
Boycott, 98. 
Bride of the Lamb, 134, 144-155, 


>? a3 


157: 
Burkitt, F. C., 9, 96. 


Caird, E., 6. 
Caligula, 18, 19, 20, 125. 
Candlesticks. See Lampstands. 


Celibacy, 107. 

Chaos monster, Myth of, 86, go, 
100, 124, 145. 

Charles, R. H., 33, 78, 105, 107, 
I£3, I19, 135, 169. 

Cherubim, 26, 47, 50, 51, 53, 83, 
IT5, 134. 


INDEX 


Christ, Conception of, 11, 23, 25- 
Gee 34, 41, 49-51, 59, 87, 136, 
I 


Church as the Spiritual Israel, 


14, 86. 

Churches, The seven, 25, 28, 33- 
43, 119. 

Claudius, 125. 

Colours, 46, 149. 

Cross, 30, 31. 

Crown. See Life. 


Dan, 63. A 
Daniel, 8, 26, 87, 92, 142, 157. 
Date, ix, 21, 126, 167. 
Day of Judgment, 57, 61, 142. 
Death (Pestilence), 55. 
» and Hades, 27, 55, 142. 
nese VS Ol, 127. 
jul, Le SECON, '42,°139, 1142, 
146. 
Deissmann, G. A., 99. 
Demons, 73, 74, 128. 
Denney, J., 160. 
Diadems, 93, 136. 
Dionysius, 165, 168. 
Domitian, 20, 48, 54, 96, 100, 126, 
027: 
Door in heaven, 44. 
yi Open 30, 
Dragon, 87-90, 93, 138. 
Satan. 
Dragon horses, 73. 
Dramatic form, 52, 67, 77, 82. 


See also 


Eagle, 71. 

Earthquakes, 57, 70, 81, 83, 116. 

Ecstasy. See Visions. 

Edom, 128. 

Egypt, Plagues of, 70. 

Elders, The four-and-twenty, 46, 
50, 134. 

Emerald, 46. 

Emperor-worship, 16-21, 38, 93, 
96, IOI, 102, 117, 118. 

Enoch, Book of, 71, 112, 139. 
sr) owecrets of, 83/130. 

Ephesus, 29, 38, 42. 

Epilogue, 156-162. 


Euphrates, 72, 95, 116, 118. 

Eusebius, 168. 

Ezekiel, 26, 45, 49, 55, 62, 78, 79, 
118, 128, 141, 148, 149, 150. 

Ezra, Fourth Book of, 140. 


False Prophet. See Beast, the 
Second. 

Faithful and True, The, 136. 

Famine, 54. 

Feasts, 39, 40. 

Fine linen, 134. 

First-fruits, 107. 

Fornication (idolatry), 107, 123. 

Frogs, 117, 118. 


Gibbon, E., 129, 130. 

God, Conception of, 45, 47, 48, 
51, 76, 83, 109, 120, 142, 150, 
165. 

Gog and Magog, I4I. 

Gospel, An eternal, 109. 

Guilds, 39. 


Hades. See Death and Hades. 
Hail, 117. 
Harlot, The Great. 
(Rome). 
Har-Magedon, 118. 
Harps, 50. 
Harvest of the earth, 111. 
Heaven, Characteristics of, 149, 
150, 154. 
Horses, Lion-headed, 73. 
Horses, The four, 53-55. 
28 White, 136. 
Hosea, 58. 
Hundred and forty-four thou- 
sand, The, 63, 64, 105, 106. 


See Babylon 


Idolatry, 40, 75, 107. 

Incense, 46, 50, 69, 116. 

Intermediate state, 57. 

Irenzus, 100, 139. 

Isaiah, 47, 58, 109, 112, 116, 123, 
128, 131, 136, 137, 145, 148, 
150. 


172 


INDEX 


eremiah, 42, 97, 109, 123, 128. 
erome, 168. 
Jerusalem, 80, 81, 147, 148. 

» Lhe New, 144-155. 
Jews, 14, 19, 35, 36, 40. 
Jezebel, 39. 

Oel, 2, 58, 72, III. 
ohannine writings, 163-169. 
John, The Apostle, 165, 166, 167. 
» » Lhe Elder, 168. 
», Lhe Prophet, 2, 4, 25, 166, 
169. 
Ningment: The Last, III, 142. 
Julian, 22. 
Julius Cesar, 16, 125. 


Keys, 27, 36. 
King of kings, 136. 
Kings, 116, 118, 137. 


Lake, K., 14. 

Lake of fire, 42, 138, 142, 146. 

Lamb, The, 23, 49-51, 64, 104, 
106, 115, 164. 

Blood of, 50, 65, 89. 


a? a> 


a9 » Marriage of, 134, 
154. See also 
Bride. 


Lampstands, 25, 28. 
Laodicea, 37, 43. 
Letters to the seven churches, 


Life, Book of, 43, 96, 142, 143, 
150. 
» Crown of, 36, 42. 
»» sree of, 42, 150. 
,» Water of, 146, 150, 157. 
Lightnings, voices and thunders, 
47, 70, 116. 
Linen, 115, 134. 
Lion of Judah, 49. 
Literary form, 11, 77, 85, 126, 


128, 135. 
Living Creatures. See Cheru- 


Love, 38, 4I. 
Lukewarmness, 37, 38, 41. 


Magic, 42, 98. 

Manna, 42. 

Marcus the Valentinian, roo. 

Martyrs, 36, 38, 56, 57, 65, 82, 
89, 97, 107, 108, III, 139, 140. 

Measuring, 80. 

Meat consecrated to idols, 39. 

Message for to-day, ix, 12, 22, 23, 
30-32, 59, 60, 75, 90, QI, 102, 
103, 108, 130-132, I5I-153. 

Michael, 88, 89. 

Millennium, 105, 106, 139-141. 

Morning star, 42. 

Moses, Song of, 115. 

Moulton, iF. He 152, 153. 

Mountain, Burning, 70. 

Mystery, 123. 

Mythology, 86, 90, 100. 


Nahum, 123. 
Names, Inscribing of, 43, 154. 
i aeOt blasphemy, 93. 
ay Power of, 43. 
PP CEI CL 424 3,49 30. 
Nero, 18, 56, 99. 
ee Myth of return of, 54, 94, 
95, 99, 127, 137. 
New heaven and earth, 145. 
Nicolaitans, 39. 
Nineveh, 123. 
Number of the Beast, 99-1or. 
Numbers, Symbolism of, 28, 29, 
89, 100, 141. 


Oil and wine, 54. 
Overcoming, 42, 65. 


Papacy, 60, 102, 131. 

Papias, 168. 

Parthians, 53, 54, 73, 94, 116,118, 
127, 137- 

Pastoral responsibility, 34. 

Patmos, 5, 24, 70, 92. 

Pergamum, 17, 38, 42. 

Persecution, 5, 14, 20, 24, 29, 36, 
37, 41, 56, 82, 88, 96, 98, IIo, 

Pestilence, 55 


173 


INDEX 


Philadelphia, 35, 36, 43. 

Pillar, 43. 

Plagues, 70, 116, 128. 

Plato, 152. 

Porter, F. C., 160. 

Prate FB.) 35: 

Prayers of saints, 46, 69. 

Priesthood, Imperial, 17, 98. 

Jewish, 47. 

Prologue, 2, 156, 157. 

Prophecy, 2-4, 21, 120, 159. 

Prophets, 2-4, 12, 25, 163, 166. 

Prophet, The False. See Beast, 
the Second. , 

Provincial administration, 17, 


97. 
Pseudonymity, 10, 167. 


Psychology, x, 85, 104, 128, 135, 


£37. 


Quotations from lost 
alypses, 9, 62, 79, 126. 


apoc- 


Ramsay, W. M., 28, 33, 54. 
Reign of Saints, 140. 
Repentance, Call to, 37, 158. 
Resurrection body, 43, 57, 140. 
Resurrection, First, 82, 108, 111, 
139-141. 
Revolution, 54. 
Rome, City of, 16, 116, 117, 124, 
rte on Te 
Pi eeapiTe, Of,;35) 21, 93,00, 
sina dete By 
»  dkeligion of, 15. 


Sanday, W., 59. 
Sardis, 37, 43, I19. 
Satan, 87, IOI, I4I. 
Dragon. 
3 ueep ‘things:.of/ "40, 
wo Synagogue of, 35. 
wo prone of, 17; 
Sea, 142, 145. 
» Of glass, 47, 114. 
Sealing, 62, 105. 
» prophecy, 157. 


See also 


Seals, The seven, 52-60. 
Sibylline Oracles, 94, 95, 100. 
Silence in heaven, 69. 

Smith, G. A., 130, 131. 

Smyrna, 16, 35, 42. 

Solomon, Psalms of, 63. 

Songs, 48, 50, 64, 83, 106, I14, 

134. 

Son of man, 26, I13. 

Souls under the altar, 56. 
Spirits, The seven, 47. 

Stars, Falling, 57, 70, 71, 87. 

» . Lhe seven,’ 27, 25: 
Star, The morning, 42. 
Stones, Precious, 46, 149. 
Stone, White, 42. 

Supper of God, 137. 

Swete, H. B., 100, 161. 

Sword, Two-edged, 26, 136. 

Symbolism, 6, 7, 28, 68, 
147. 


14I, 


Tabernacle, 25. 
Temple of Jerusalem, 80, 149. 
a in heaven, 83, 113, I15, 

TiG; 

Testimony of Jesus, 90, 134. 
Throne of God, 45, 142. 
Thrones of elders, 46. 

», Martyrs, 139. 
Thunders, The seven, 78. 
Thyatira, 39, 42. 

Tiberius, 18, 125. 
Trumpets, The seven, 67-76, 
Tyre, 123, 128, 149. 


Unclean spirits, Three, 117, 118. 


Vaughan, C. J., 59. 

Vespasian, 18, 125. 

Victors, Reward of, 42, 65. 

Vintage of the earth, 111. 

Virgins, 106. 

Visions, x, 5, 8, 25, 44, 64, 77, 84, 
114, 127, 135. 

Voices, 25, 27, 44, 82, 89, 116. 


174 


INDEX 


War, 53, 116, 118, 141. Woman arrayed with sun, 86-90. 
», in heaven, 87, 88. The scarlet, 122-132. 
Warrior-King, 31, 136, 164. Word of God, 136, 164. 
Watchfulness, 119. Wormwood, 70. 
Wells, H. G., 30. Wrath of God, 116, 120, 137. 
White, Significance of, 43, 53, 65, 
136. 
Winds, 62. Zealots, 80. 
Wine, 54. Zechariah, 25, 53, 80. 
Witnesses, The two, 80. Zion, Mount, 104. 


175 




















| BS2825 .1496 
isions 


of hope and fear; a stu 


4 1467 


Oo 
© 
Oo 
N — 
oe 
Oo 
i a 
~ 







































































